Predator: The Crystal Shard
by Bastet1023
Summary: A teenage girl finds a crystal with magical powers but soon realizes that the original owners want it back. COMPLETE
1. The Riddle and the Runner

_Here's yet another story from the depths of my mind. I was struck when I read the book "The Crystal Shard" by R.A. Salvatore, however it is related in no way to that book. I do NOT own the Predators, no matter how much I'd love to! Hope you like it. It's a bit short, but it's a Prologue. More to come soon!_

**Predator: The Crystal Shard**

**Prologue: The Riddle and the Runner**

_When the Universe was being born, a god of great power and wisdom looked down from the heavens and saw a warrior of equal honor, courage, and spirit. As a gift to this wise warrior, the god took a piece of crystal and into placed many of the god's powers. Sater Kreshebon, or the Crystal Shard as it was called, was gifted to the warrior from the god and the god told the warrior of three aspects of the Crystal Shard, but spoke in a riddle:_

_First of the traits of the glorious stone,_

_Many may use it, yet one alone,_

_They of courage, honor, and spirit,_

_The Shard only bonds to those found fit._

_Second, its powers are great indeed,_

_And can be used for those in need,_

_For one with evil in their head,_

_The Shard insures they end up dead._

_Third, no power can destroy this stone,_

_Only by my hands alone,_

_Though those who need a second, and try so hard,_

_Can make a child of the Shard…_

_Through many centuries, the race the warrior belonged to, took great pains to decipher the god's message. After many millennia, they managed to learn what all of the verses of the riddle meant; all, except the last…

* * *

_

The Yautja ran with all of his strength and speed, leaping from rooftop to rooftop to avoid the pursuing human ships and vehicles. All the odds were against him however; the humans knew all the terrain and could easily trap him. His cloaking devise had been destroyed earlier so using it to hide was not an option, not to mention the fact it was pouring down rain. He had hoped that the darkness of night would have hidden him, but the humans were tracking him with much more than their eyes,

He had the artifact. After so many years of searching, and finally locating the artifact, he had it; now all he had to do was escape the humans and rendezvous with his clan. Easier said that done.

As he raced into a less populated, run-down section of the human settlement, the Yautja heard human gunfire. They were getting more daring. He had already lost his disc by taking down one of the human flyers and his plasma caster had been damaged by the humans that were originally guarding the artifact. One of their skulls hung on his belt; he might as well scrape as much honor as possible from this mission.

The fire from human's weapons ricochet off the buildings all around him. It was only a matter of time, and then a few found their mark, tearing though his upper thigh. The Yautja stumbled, trying desperately to ignore the agony pounding in his leg. As he neared a separation between two buildings, he was not sure if he could make the jump injured.

He glanced at the artifact he held and remembered the Arbitrator's words, "_If you cannot return it, make sure that it is not found by the humans."_ As the Yautja neared the jump, he knew the inevitable. He was losing too much blood from his leg and was quickly tiring; he was going to die.

He was at the jump. He gathered all of his strength and leap. By some miracle of the gods, the Yautja made the jump, but he had dropped the artifact. He wanted to retrieve the artifact but there would be no way that he could get it without the humans killing him before he found it. There were large piles of rubble between the buildings and it would take too long to find.

But, perhaps this seemingly bad stroke of luck was good. The human considering they were still chasing him, had not seen him drop the artifact. They had no idea that they were going in the wrong direction of the artifact. The Yautja continued on; even if the artifact was not in the Yautjas' possession, as long as the humans no longer had it, things were not as bad as they seemed.

As the buildings became more rundown and the warrior began to fall, he reached instinctively to his armband to activate his self-destruct devise.

"_No,"_ the warrior thought. He had to make sure the artifact was out of range of the blast. He could not risk destroying it, though the legends say it was impossible; that would be an even greater loss than if the humans found it. After a few more minutes of the desperate and painful chase, the Yautja knew the artifact was safe, and he was ready to die.

He collapsed onto one of the rooftops, but not before activating his self-destruct.

The men raced towards the creature knowing their orders. They needed to retrieve the artifact by any means necessary. That included blasting the alien to bits. The men approached the alien cautiously. The alien seemed to be emitting some sort of trilling cry.

As the men approached they realized the trill was not a cry, but a laugh. They saw exactly what the alien was laughing about when its' gauntlet exploded, creating a blast that wiped out the building they were on, a few around them and shook the foundations of the all of the buildings within the area.

About a two miles back, after the dust from the blast had settled, a small black box lay camouflaged in the rubble, hardly hinting at the trouble its contents would cause in the future.

_I hoped you liked the Prologue. This story is going to have some fantasy in it just to tell you. Yes, I know the riddle was weird andif you didn't getit, don't worry about it. All will be explained in time.Please review!_


	2. Life As We Know It

_Wow, lots of reviews really fast! You obviously want me to update. Here's chapter one! Hope you enjoy! Thanks again for all the reviews!_

**Predator: The Crystal Shard**

**Chapter 1: Life as we know it**

"_Dear God, please end the torture!"_ Sara though as she tried to stay awake in her Geometry class. The teacher, Mrs. Alen, could not possibly get any more boring. Sara often wondered if it was possible to die from sheer boredom. The room was even boring, with its beige walls and shut blinds making it seem more like a prison than a class room.

Sara curled her burgundy hair on her finger and added some finishing touches to a picture of a person bearing a striking resemblance to Mrs. Alen being chased about the room by a large array of bizarre looking creatures. It was one of the many pictures sketched on her notebook.

Sara glanced across the desks at her friend, Zoë, who seemed very intent on how many ways she could spin her pencil about in her hand, her blue eyes occasionally flickering up to glance at the clock.

Sensing eyes on her, Zoë glanced in Sara's direction. Sara jerked her head towards Mrs. Alen and pretended to choke herself. Zoë nodded and, with a smile, Zoë took the drawstrings on her hooded sweater, made a noose, and pretended to hang herself. Sara gave a small snort of laughter, and then glanced up at the clock again; eleven minutes, thirty eight seconds left… thirty seven… thirty six…

"Miss Adolla! Do you think staring at the clock will make it go faster?" Mrs. Alen snapped.

"No… Sorry." Sara would have loved to add the statement that the clock was much more interesting than any triangles, but for the sake of not getting a detention, she held her tongue.

"I want to see you after class," Mrs., Alen stated turning back to the black board, oblivious to Sara's murderous stare.

After class, Sara trudged up to the desk preparing herself for the slaughter. Standing at the desk, she motioned to Zoë to head on to lunch; this was going to be a long one.

"Now, Sara, I have noticed that your grades are barely holding up and it seems…" Sara made sure her face was at a rapt attention as Mrs. Alen continued on. She knew this speech by heart and really didn't need to hear it again.

"However, if your grade do not pick up, I'm afraid summer school is inevitable for you."

Sara gulped. Not good. Summer school with Mrs. Alen would be nothing short of a living hell.

Eventually, Sara left and walked out into the hallway, her head hung and her shoulders slumped with the weight of the message she had got.

"What took you so long?" Zoë asked as Sara sat down at the table. Zoë was relatively small, with blonde hair and blue eyes, and a temper that no one would be wise to set off. Zoë was undoubtedly Sara's best friend, but Sara didn't let her know that. Sara told Zoë of her dilemma.

"Hmmmm… you could always hack into the computer system and change your grade."

Sara looked at Zoë skeptically, "And I how would I do that?"

Zoë shrugged, "Your problem, not mine." Sara sighed and decided to steer the conversation in a more uplifting direction.

"You're going out for soccer this year right?" Sara already knew the answer; Zoë had to be the best player in the county.

"Yep, are you?" Zoë glanced in Sara's direction. She knew that Sara had always loved to play, but could never seem to make the cut.

"I don't know, I'm not that good…" Zoë cut her off.

"Yes, you are good. You just need to work on your strength and speed. I could help you."

"You could make me better in two days flat?" Sara asked.

"Ok… maybe not. Just try out; you never know." Zoë took a bite out of an apple and said something else that Sara couldn't quite make out past the weird muffled words.

* * *

Sara said goodbye to Zoë after school and headed down the streets of the small town of Oakwood. It was beginning to grow, but not very quickly. It took Sara about fifteen minutes to walk home, but she always stopped by the bakery to grab a bagel or pastry to eat.

As she walked out of the bakery, she heard the tell-tale rumble of a motor cycle speeding down the road. She saw the people around her shake their heads and start muttering about how kids these days are just asking for trouble. As the motorcycle came into view, Sara recognized the driver.

And the driver recognized Sara. Slowing down the motorcycle pulled over to the curb where Sara was standing. The driver took his helmet off and smiled at Sara. His appearance alone would make people do a double take. Short, dyed black hair, tattoos of dragons and swords, and two earrings, one in the ear and the other in the nose completed the smiling figure.

"Hey Sara, what's up?" he said in a fake punker voice.

"Hello Alexander, how are you?" The boy gave Sara an annoyed look.

"Look, Cousin Sara, how many times must I ask you to not call me Alexander? Alex is fine." Alex was Sara's cousin and probably the nicest guy she ever knew, despite his bizarre appearance; he was like a brother to her. She always called him Alexander to tease him as he called her "Cousin Sara". Sara shook off the comment and made on of her own.

"I see Aunt Sally finally let you get the nose ring. How'd you get her to do that?" Alex smiled.

"Actually it's a fake. And I have to take it off before I go in the house everyday. So, you need a ride?"

"Are you serious?" Alex nodded. "I'm not getting on that death trap!"

Alex laughed, "It's not a "deathtrap". You can even borrow my helmet." Sara was about to refuse again when she glanced over and saw a group of kids coming their way. The it was the school football team, headed by the biggest jock and loser, Jeremy Banks. He had wanted Zoë to go out with him and when she bluntly refused, he decided to take it out on her friends, namely, herself.

"Just this once," she said taking Alex's helmet and strapping it on. "Just go slow."

Alex smiled evilly, "Yes ma'am," he replied, gunning the engine and speed off down the road as fast as he dared.

Alex came to a screeching halt in front of a small apartment building. Sara got off and stumbled away from the bike; now she remembered why she vowed to never go on that thing with Alex ever again.

"See you later Sara," Alex called over the rumble of the engine as he sped away, leaving a cloud of dust in his wake. Sara turned a walked over to the apartment building, fumbling with her keys to the place.

She quickly got to her apartment and opened the door. The apartment was silent; big surprise. Her dad rarely was home, even though his job didn't keep him too long away from home.

Sara went into her room, throwing her backpack to the side and turned on her radio, allowing angry music to pound into the room. She sat on her bed and pulled out one of her many fantasy novels and tried to read, although her mind was not there.

She was instead thinking of her mother. She had died a little over a year from now, due to pancreatic cancer. Her father had been devastated and developed a bad drinking habit ever since then. He never hit her or was abusive, but sometimes Sara almost wanted him to. His apathy for life and for her was much worse than any abuse.

Sara often found herself dreaming of past holidays and vacations. How close she and her father had been! He would always be the one to try the new thing out whether it was skiing or water tubing. But now… he never really did anything. Sara had thought he would snap out of it by now, but it didn't seem so.

Luckily she had Zoë and Alexander to pull her through. Surprisingly, it wasn't her father, but Alex that got on her case with grades and school stuff. It was he who got her Fuzz.

"_Speaking of Fuzz, where is the little twerp?" _Sara thought. Fuzz was her gray kitten that Alex had found in some alley, cleaned up, and gave it to her for her birthday three weeks ago. When she first got the present and it _moved_ Sara had thought he had got her a snake or tarantula or something weird like that. But Fuzz was a wonderful companion and he kept her entertained.

Sara found him sleeping in her jacket she had tossed on the floor. Fuzz gave an annoyed squeak at being woken up, but purred happily as Sara pet him.

Sara glanced out at the darkening sky dotted with stars. Suddenly, a bright white one streaked past. Remembering the legend of shooting stars, Sara made her wish. She wished for something to happen that would turn her life around and maybe even go on some adventure that the characters in her novels did.

Sara continued to stare out at the stars, only being disrupted when Fuzz nibbled on her hand in protest when she stopped petting him. She smiled and turned to her backpack with a sigh. She might as well do her homework and get the stuff over with.

_I know, not a lot of action. I'm setting up the scene; there will be action soon enough. Hope you liked it! I'll update within the week! Please Review!_


	3. Discovery

_Here's chapter two! Hope you like it! Thanks for all of the Reviews!_

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

Sara suffered though another day of school. Luckily, it was Thursday and the fact that the weekend was coming held her through. And considering how bad the day was going, the thought was a good thing.

She cut herself in shop class, causing half of the kids to start screaming bloody murder. She didn't think she did so hot on her History test. She was hit in the head three times with a volleyball in Gym and got caught passing notes to Zoë in study hall. By Geometry class she was ready to lie down and die.

By some miracle, Mrs. Alen was absent, and the substitute actually was able to keep their attention. She helped out a lot showing the sub where everything was and the sub said she would mention the good behavior to Mrs. Alen; a little sucking up never hurt.

However, as she left her class, her mood immediately plummeted. Zoë was squaring off with Jeremy Banks. Most likely he made some perverted comment and Zoë got ticked. Sara sighed and pushed though the thong of kids finally reaching Zoë.

"I'd like to see you try," Zoë said, obviously answering a threat. Sara grabbed her shoulder.

"It isn't worth it. You've got soccer tryouts tomorrow; don't waste your time on that jerk," Sara said, trying to sooth her agitated friend. Zoë had almost been suspended for a fight two months ago against Jeremy; she didn't need another black mark on her record.

With a heavy sigh Zoë turned and stalked away. Sara heard Jeremy call something out to Zoë, who promptly turned and gave him the finger. There were gasped and laughter; aimed at who, Sara didn't know, nor did she care. All she cared about now was getting Zoë out of there before she lost her temper.

"Thanks," Zoë said as they sat down at their table.

"No problem," Sara replied, taking a bite out of her sandwich. "You couldn't afford another fight." Zoë nodded and started to dig through her food, not taking any interest in any of it.

"Sara… you know how you were telling me about your grade in math?" Sara grunted in reply. "Well, would you want me to tutor you?" Sara coughed nearly chocking on her food.

"Um…I… uh…" Sara stuttered. She didn't think anything or anyone could help her in that subject. Not only that, Zoë was in one of the most advanced math classes in the school. Sara had never considered the idea, not wanting to butt in on Zoë's schedule. "Well, if you want to, you could."

"Sure, we can start next week, on Wednesday. Sound ok?" Zoë asked. Sara nodded and continued to eat, wondering what pushed Zoë into coming up with the idea of tutoring her. Whoever it was, Sara made a mental note to thank them; maybe summer school wasn't inevitable after all.

* * *

The rest of the day when quick and well until Sara was walking home. She heard them before she saw them. The entire football team was walking to one of the fast-food restaurants after practice. Most of them were ok, some even nice, but with Jeremy around, Sara felt as though there was an army bearing down upon her.

Glancing left and right, looking for an exit, Sara realized she was stuck; until she saw the alley-way. She quickly slipped into the alley and ran down the narrow corridor trying to keep as big of a gap between her and those guys as was possible. She wasn't one for fights and she knew that because of her assistance to Zoë earlier, Jeremy would be looking for someone to vent out his feelings; who better than Zoë's best friend?

Once she felt she was at a safe distance she quickly took a few turns that she thought would put her on her regular path. After walking for awhile, she finally realized that she was not going in the right direction. Sara cursed; she must have taken a wrong turn. From the looks of things, she was about a half an hour from her apartment. She knew that from the construction site right ahead of her. There had been some gas explosion or something and the whole place was being rebuilt.

The residents of Oakwood had actually been happy with the explosion to a point, no one was injured, and being the area destroyed was an old, abandoned part of town. This was only the outskirts from what she had heard. The site was about ten or twelve blocks from the epicenter.

"_Man,"_ she thought, "_that was one hell of a gas explosion."_

Sara turned to walk away when something caught her eye, lying near a pile of dirt and rubble. She couldn't exactly make out what it was; some sort of box, but it stood out relatively well being that it was the only thing there that looked like it was still intact.

After glancing around to make sure no one was looking, Sara hopped over the flimsy, orange, plastic fence and made her way toward the item.

Sara picked it up and was surprised at its lightness. It was definitely made of metal, a weird black metal. Maybe some type of steel or iron. But before she could scrutinize the box further and construction worker came running over, yelling at her to get out of there. Sara tucked the box in her jacket, jumped back over the fence and got out of there as fast as she could.

* * *

Sara studied the box on her desk. It was a four by six inch box at an estimate and it had strange markings and designs all over it. The strangest marking was in the center; it was circular with the picture of some creature wearing a mask and holding a spear high above its head.

Sara touched the carving feeling the smooth details. She wondered if there was a museum there or something; maybe this was some Aztec or Egyptian artifact that they missed and somehow survived the destruction of the building that held it. She gently pushed down on the carving and, with a pop, two hidden latches on the side of the box snapped open. Sara lifted the lid unsure if some bug or snake was going to jump out.

Once she fully opened it she peeked in, her hand poised to slam the lid back down if she didn't like what she saw. Reaching her hand in, grasped the item, and pulled it out.

It was a crystal. More of a shard of crystal actually, being it was in the vague shape of a triangle, with a small ridge sticking out making one side resemble a lighting bolt in shape. It was very light weight, being about a pencil width thick and about the size of a computer mouse. It fit comfortably in her hand and seemed warm to the touch.

Suddenly, Fuzz jumped on her desk, startling her. Sara nearly dropped the shard. With a sigh she set the shard down and began to stroke Fuzz. Fuzz walked over to the crystal, intent on figuring out exactly what this new item was.

Fuzz sniffed the crystal curiously. Suddenly, he began to growl and hiss at the crystal backing away from it as if it was alive.

"What's up with you?" Sara asked Fuzz. What was so scary about a piece of pretty rock? Fuzz ignored her and continued his hisses and growls, eventually jumping off the desk and racing under Sara's bed, only his glowing eyes visible as he stared at her.

"Cats," Sara muttered, turning back to the crystal. It had no blemishes within it, surprising for a gem that size, and acted like it was almost mirror. She put in closer under the light of the lamp on her desk. Rainbows shined all over the room, lighting it up considerably.

Sara set the crystal down and turned to the box that held it. There was nothing in it; no letter or map or instruction list. She turned it over and looked at the front of the box again. Sara saw another symbol that seemed to stand out, this one looked like some symbol you'd see in a tomb with graceful, curving loops and sharp, angled turns. Sara tried pressing it as well seeing if it opened some other chamber in the box. Nothing happened; only a little blinking light started flashing.

Sara set down the box quickly, hoping she didn't set a bomb or something off; after a few minutes of watching a red blinking light, Sara figured that it didn't really mean anything.

Well, the light ruled out the fact that this was some sort of Ancient relic. It had to have been made recently; probably some kid's toy, but what about the crystal? Sara opened her desk and set the box inside, turning to examine the crystal further.

* * *

Meanwhile, deep in space, an alien ship received the hidden message sent out by the containment devise, naming the planet and coordinates of the crystal.

* * *

Illi'thus ducked his opponents' swiping hand and countered with a punch to the shoulder. His opponent caught his outstretched arm, with hopes to bring him to the ground. However, with both of his hands holding on to Illi'thus's arm, he was unable to fend off the other fist that hit his muscled stomach.

Illi'thus pulled away quickly taking hold of the situation. His opponent was bulkier than him, but his speed and agility kept him safe; however he knew that eventually Ven'tise would get his claws on him and the fight would be lost.

Illi'thus dodged another charge, trying to trip Ven'tise as he raced by. It worked… kind of. Ven'tise went down but turned and charged back, pushing off from the ground using his sheer build to try and crush his opponent.

Illi'thus dropped to the ground as Ven'tise flew at him, catching his stomach with his feet and assisting Ven'tise in his flight over him, off the _kerite, _and into a wall. Cheers rang out as Illi'thus stood, rightfully named winner of this particular fight.

Ven'tise stood and bowed his head respectfully; he always seemed a good sport when it came to fights. The Leader, Draka, dismissed the students to their own activities and left the room. The students went off to their own business taking about lessons, future hunts, and fights.

"You know that I let you win," Ven'tise said to Illi'thus as he approached.

Illi'thus laughed, "From my position, it didn't look like you purposely flew into the wall."

Illi'thus and Ven'tise were friends, although when you'd look at them, they looked pretty different. Ven'tise was heavily muscled and relatively short, his skin a deep green and brown tinting.

Illi'thus, however, was tall, but a lot thinner than any other Yautja, with paler, almost white skin, along with green and black markings; some, when they first met him, though that he was seriously ill or had been recently. Also, he had dark green eyes, which were rare for a Yautja.

Suddenly, one of the blooded warriors, Sek'lett, ran into the room, looking shaken. He turned to the two. "Where is Leader Draka?"

Illi'thus and Ven'tise were taken back by the urgency of the blooded's tone. "He just left," Ven'tise said, "He was probably going to his quarters." Sek'lett nodded to Ven'tise and raced out of the room.

"Why did he seem…frightened?" Illi'thus asked Ven'tise who shook his head in confusion.

They would find out soon though, for within five minutes, Draka roared a summoning that called all of the students to him; they were going on an unexpected hunt.

_Oooo! Cliffhanger! Hehehe… Review and I'll update faster!_


	4. More Than a Pretty Rock

_Here's chapter 3! I hope you like it! Thank You for all of the reviews! _

**Chapter 3: More than a Pretty Rock**

Sara's face blanched at the news of a pop quiz in Geometry on what they had learned with the substitute.

"_That evil, old bat!"_ Sara thought fiercely. Unfortunately, nothing Sara thought could stop Mrs. Alen from passing out the papers.

She looked at the paper with a hopeless expression. With a sigh she picked up her pencil and stared at the paper. She went to write only to have her mechanical pencil run out of lead; not a promising sign.

Sara reaching into her pocket for her package of lead and found that there was something else in there as well. The crystal shard.

Sara nodded remembering that she had put it in her pocket to show Zoë. She touched the shard and smiled at its comforting warmth. She glanced back down at the paper, trying to remember what she had learned about the chapter.

Suddenly, as if a movie was playing in her head, Sara remembered everything that the sub said; being it was one of the few days she actually paid attention. With a smile, Sara began to scribble down all the answers.

* * *

"You _what?_" Zoë asked in disbelief, her mouth hanging open.

"I aced the quiz!" Sara said nearly jumping up and down. Mrs. Alen had graded their papers while they worked on their homework and had called Sara up to her desk; at first Sara thought she was in for another reprimand for her bad quiz score. But normally, Mrs. Alen didn't smile when she gave her scoldings.

"Excellent work Sara," Mrs. Alen said showing Sara her test score, a twenty eight out of thirty, "I see you are finally putting in the work. Keep it up." Sara had been too shocked to say anything. The whole time she thought she was in a dream and couldn't wake up, no matter how hard she tried to explain to herself that she could _never_ get an A on a quiz in Geometry.

"Whoa… how did you study? You have to give me your secret," Zoë said, obviously impressed.

"I have no idea. Hey, I didn't show you this did I?" Sara pulled out the shard and handed it to Zoë who looked it over. "I think it's real crystal, not glass." Zoë turned the crystal over in her hands for a few times, at one point holing it up to the light and looking at it's thickness.

"No, it isn't glass. Glass is green and you'd be able to see the color change with the light. Where'd you get it?"

Sara told Zoë about the construction sight and the box. Zoë agreed with her explanation of the box. "It was probably some kid's toy safe where he put a crystal he found and lost it. But it was metal?"

"I pretty sure it was, but it was very light." Zoë shrugged and handed the crystal back to Sara.

"I heard crystals were lucky somewhere; maybe it helped you out on the quiz." Sara smiled and nodded.

"I hope it will help me out at soccer tryouts today."

* * *

Sara sat in her English class taking her test that she had completely forgot about. Sara stared at the paper but found no assistance. Unlike Geometry, she didn't remember what her teacher had said.

"_I've got to start paying attention in class," _Sara thought. She glanced around the room, watching people's pencils fly over their papers marking the answers down. She looked at question 1:

_**What is the difference between third person limited and third person omnipresent?**_

Sara glanced over at the other student again, wishing that she knew the answer as they did. Suddenly, she heard one of the kids speak out loud.

"_The difference between third omnipresent and limited is limited can only be seen through the eyes of one character, where omnipresent sees all."_

Sara glanced up to see the teacher's and students' reactions to this outburst. There were none. Sara quickly wrote down the answer and moved on to the next one, slightly startled; maybe they didn't hear the kid.

As she moved through the test, every one Sara was stuck on came to her in the voice of another kid. No one besides her seemed to notice this. Why?

Once the test was over Sara pulled out a book for the last five minutes of class and pretended to read. Her mind was completely focused on something else entirely.

"_Why am I hearing voices in my head?"_ Sara thought. It seemed like the only logical explanation. What was strange was that all the voices told her answers to the test, and they were her classmates' voices as well. Not just one, but a variety of kids.

The bell rang signaling the end of school. Sara gathered up her books and headed quickly out of the room. She pushed the thoughts of her sudden telepathic abilities out of her mind; she needed to be in full focus for her soccer tryout.

* * *

Sara bounced on her toes, cold despite the warm weather. She was at soccer tryouts; there were about a fifty girls there, each hoping to make the varsity team. Unfortunately only sixteen would make it; the others would be divided into other teams as junior varsity players.

Sara touched the crystal in the pocket of her windbreaker jacket; she was able to keep it in her pocket but she hoped it wouldn't fall out during the tryouts.

A whistle blew and all of the girls an over to the head coach, Mr. Baker. "Ok girls, everyone got their number?" There came a unanimous yes from the crowd. They had each been issued a number like the ones marathon runners wear so the coaches could mark down their skills and faults.

"Good; first, who are trying out for Goalies?" Zoë and five others stepped forward. "You all should go with Mr. Hampton," Mr. Baker gestured to the goalie coach. "And for the rest of you… you have also been given a number one or two. Ones go to your left, twos to your right."

The girls dispersed and Sara was in the scrimmage group, where they would play a couple quick games to see how the players' skills were as a team. They were then split into two groups; one group given red mesh vests to mark them as a team, Sara not one of them. Sara was placed as the right midfielder, who job was to help the offence and defense out if they needed support.

With a whistle the kick off began. The meshed shirts team managed to gain control and dribble the ball down the left side of the field. Sara stayed in her position and watched her team member battle for control. She smiled when she saw Zoë as her team's goalie. The mesh offender took a risk shot at the goal, but it was easily snagged out of the air by Zoë.

Sara and Zoë made eye contact and Sara knew the ball was coming to her. With a strong heave, Zoë tossed to ball to Sara who stopped it with her chest and took off down the field. She saw the defender coming at her and she saw her team's left offender open, running parallel to her.

Just as the defender reached her, Sara chipped the ball over to the offender and continued to run in case her teammate needed to pass, hoping her shot was accurate. Fortunately, the kick was perfect and the offender easily stopped the ball and blasted it at the upper right corner of the net. The goalie got there barely in time to tip the ball away and get a good hold on it.

The scrimmage continued, both teams having strong points and weak ones. Sara's left defenders and midfielders weren't doing so good, so most of the action stayed away from her. Zoë, as expected, was doing an excellent job at guarding the goal, as was the other goalie as the other end of the field.

The coaches gave the two minute warning after another save by Zoë, who punted the ball out to the center midfielder. The midfield managed to get the ball to the center offence who gave it a sharp kick at the goal, the goalie deflected it, causing the ball to bounce away from the action on the left side to the right.

Sara sprinted for the ball as did the goalie, Sara knowing that there was no way she'd be fast enough to reach it, but the next thing she knew she was right in front of the ball, the goalie still diving for it. Using a slide attack, Sara managed to hit the ball just before the goalie touched it, and bounced it into the goal.

The coach blew the whistle and the scrimmage was over. The two teams gave each other handshakes and then ran over to the sideline of the field to change places with the others who had been working on drills.

"How did you do that!" Zoë asked Sara, looking at her in amazement as she ran over.

"Do what?" Sara asked.

"You flew! I've never seen you move that fast! You should do sprinting in track!" Zoë replied.

As Sara thought about it, she probably should have never been able to reach the ball before the goalie. Sara was still thinking about it when Zoë gasped and shouted, "What happened to your leg?"

Sara looked down to see a steady stream of blood running down her thigh and on her socks and shin guards. All the other girls heard Zoë outburst and started screaming, the coaches running over to see what the problem was.

* * *

Sara sat on the bench by the field watching the others tryout, holding some gauze to her leg. It turned out that when she slid there was a piece of broken glass on the ground, and she had ripped a long, nasty cut along her thigh. The coaches assured her that she would be fine and she would be judged on her performance in the scrimmage.

Sara sighed and reached into her pocket, pulling out the crystal shard. As she looked at it, it was not only very warm, but it seemed to be glowing. Sara shrugged and put the crystal back in her pocket. It was probably just the sun or something shining on it.

Mr. Hampton ran over to Sara to check on her cut. He pulled the blood soaked gauze off of it and took a close look at it, seeming surprised.

"Wow, this already seemed to be healing," he said setting the gauze back down. "At this rate it should be healed in two or three days." He smile reassuringly at Sara and walked back over to the goalies that were practicing blocks.

Sara pulled the gauze up again and looked at her wound. It had stopped bleeding and a scab had already formed. That was just odd; wounds didn't heal that fast. As Sara sat on the bench thinking about all of the strange things that had happened that day, completely ignored the glowing crystal that sat in her pocket.

* * *

All of the students spoke in excited whispers about what Draka had told them. They were looking for an ancient Yautja artifact on the human home world. They all had heard the legend, but they never thought it was true.

_Sater Kreshebon, _the Crystal Shard, was a legendary crystal that supposedly had the ability to lend its possessor certain powers of mind and body. That was at least all the students could remember about the myth, but the Blooded undoubtedly knew more.

The students were told that the Elders, upon hearing that the, supposedly lost, Crystal Shard had been found ordered the ship to go to the planet and find it immediately. That meant that all of the unblooded were to go along as well.

Not only were the students excited about this surprise hunt and the possibility of finding something with that sort of power, but they had never seen humans before, except for their studies they were required to take involving prey species.

Illi'thus and Ven'tise wondered aloud what the creatures where like. They really couldn't remember the exact lessons and were curious, in spite of their leader's warning of how dangerous they could be.

"They look too weak, how can they be dangerous?" Ven'tise asked Illi'thus. Illi'thus gave him a look as if to say, "_I look weak, but I can hold my own._"

"The Elders say they are sneaky and cowards and don't fight fair. They would be a bit of a challenge if you were unarmed and they had a gun."

Ven'tise nodded and asked, "What if you meet one?"

"Meet one?"

"Yes, what do you think you'd do?"

Illi'thus thought for a moment, "If it tried to kill me I'd fight it, if not, we are supposed to leave them alone." Ven'tise smiled and Illi'thus knew what he was thinking. If he met one, he probably would try and scare the thing to death by uncloaking a few feet away from it to see its reaction.

Illi'thus smiled in response and thought quietly to himself. What would he do if he met one of these "dangerous" humans? Illi'thus shook the thought away; they probably would not even catch a glimpse of the humans.

"_Hopefully," _He thought, _"I'm wrong."_

_Did you like it? I hope so! Please Review and the next chapter will be soon! If you have any questions about soccer terms or anything, just ask and I'll tell you. And the next Ancient World chapter is on it's way! Amouthea and I just have to put our part together and it will be up ASAP!_


	5. Worries and an Arrival

_Hey, here's chapter 4! I hope you like it! Thanx for all of the reviews!_

**Chapter 4: Worries and an Arrival**

Sara woke up to the sound of Fuzz's high pitched mews as he struggled to wake her.

"Geez, Fuzz," Sara groaned when she realized that it was nine in the morning… a Saturday morning, "couldn't you wait another hour or so?" Fuzz gave another high pitched mew and nibbled at her exposed fingers.

"All right. All right!" Sara muttered, "I'm getting up!"

Sara staggered out of her bed, walking to the kitchen. She picked up Fuzz's bowl, poured in the food and set it on the ground. Looking at the refrigerator, she saw a note hanging there:

_Sara,_

_Went to cemetery. Be back soon._

_Dad_

"Thanks for the invite," Sara muttered. If her dad had asked her, she would have gone. Sara shook her head and walked out of the kitchen. Sara walked back in her room and sat down on her bed, thinking.

Suddenly, her leg felt ichy and then she remembered her cut. She pulled off the clean gauze she had put on last night to see how much the cut had healed. When she pulled the bandage off she was shocked to find no sign that there had ever been a cut there in the first place; no scab or scar or anything. Sara felt her heart start to pound; there was no way she could have healed that fast.

First, it was the photographic memory, next, she was hearing voices, then, she turned into "lightning lady", and now she heals a fairly serious cut overnight. Was there something wrong with her?

"_Calm down Sara; don't have a heart attack,"_ Sara thought to herself. _"Think, what could have caused this to happen?"_

Sara tried as hard as she could to figure out what she could have done. She wasn't on any medication or anything. Maybe she had been exposed to some sort of radiation, but why was it only showing up now? It certainly wasn't a result of hormones; she never remembered reading in any health book that teenagers developed super powers during puberty.

Sara sat on her bed in thought. As hard as she tried, she couldn't remember what she could have done to cause this. She stood up and opened her window; maybe some fresh air would help. As she opened her window the saw the crystal lying on her bedside table; then, it hit her.

"The crystal," Sara muttered picking up the stone, warm as always. But it couldn't be warm. It had sat on the table the whole night; it should at least be cool to the touch. Sara set the crystal back down and raced into the sitting room, grabbing the phone and calling Zoë.

"Hello?" Zoë answered, sounding tired. It _was_ a Saturday morning.

"Zoë, um, you need to come over here. I need to talk to you."

"Well," Zoë hesitated, "I have to go to my grandmother's house for her birthday in a little while. We'll be back by six, though. We'll stop by your place and pick you up. Is that ok?"

Sara sighed; it wasn't ok. She seriously needed to talk to someone about this thing. But Zoë would be back later. "That's good; see you at six." Sara hung up the phone and ran back to her room picking up the crystal again. Sara stared at the crystal in her hand. What was this thing? The closest thing she had heard about anything like this was in her fantasy novels.

Sara sighed, whatever this thing was, she wasn't sure she liked it.

* * *

The ship reached the Earth at midday. The Yautja were able to hide it in a wooded area. There were a dozen in all: nine unblooded students, two blooded warriors, and the leader, Draka.

The students were allowed some time to adjust to the environment, but had to stay near the ship. Illi'thus watched strange winged creatures fly around as their homes were disturbed by the Yautjas' presence.

Draka called out to the students, beckoning them back to the ship's entrance. Draka scanned the faces and saw what he had hoped he would not; excitement and curiosity. Draka held up a hand to silence the students.

"As you know, we are here to find an artifact," Draka began. He held every bit of the students' attention.

"_How much easier would training be if they were that attentive during their lessons," _Draka thought.

"The artifact glows in both the infra-red and color spectrums, when it is being used. When it is not, it is completely invisible, which will indeed make our search much harder. Luckily, a tracking devise in the container it was last in has been activated and we will be able to follow it." Draka continued to explain what the shard would look like if it was being used.

"I also must tell you though that, most likely, a human holds the Crystal Shard," the students' eyes gleamed excitedly, "Whether it is a warrior, or a child, we do not know. If you find a human that holds the shard, immediately report it and we will retrieve it. If you encounter the human and are able to get the shard, take it and eliminate the human." The students' eyes widened; only blooded warriors normally would be permitted to kill humans.

"Only then, or if a human sees you uncloaked, which it shouldn't, may you kill one of these creatures."

"But be wary. If a human possesses the shard, and knows its functions, the human is more dangerous that any other creature alive; including a Yautja." Draka stopped to consider his next words. It would probably be a good idea to frighten them a bit so they'd be more careful.

"With the shard, a human will heal quicker, fight faster, and be much stronger than any of its kind. Some may even be able to reach into your minds and control your thoughts. It would not be wise to go against a creature, alone, that possesses that much power."

"Now, you will split into three groups each headed by a blooded warrior." Draka split the groups, Illi'thus, Ven'tise, another student Kre'shan in one with Sek'lett to lead.

"Stay with your commander and keep cloaked. If a human is spotted stay away and tell your superior it. If you believe you have seen the shard, immediately report it and if possible retrieve it; don't forget our mission." Draka paused.

"And above all else, don't do anything stupid."

_Getting interesting isn't it? I know the chapter was short, so I promise to update soon, within a week. Please Reivew!_


	6. So Close, Yet So Far Away

_I promised you guys an update and I now have. Here's chapter five! Thank You for all of your reviews!_

**Chapter 5: So Close, Yet So Far Away**

Sara tried to keep her self busy for the hours before Zoë's arrival, mainly by reading her books and looking for information about the crystal on the internet. The strangest thing was a message from government officials about a missing artifact, the description creepily matching the crystal. The last thing Sara needed was the FBI on her doorstep.

She had placed the crystal back into the box for safe keeping and had the box setting on the coffee table. Fuzz still was uneasy around the crystal. If he got too close, he'd jump away with a growl or a hiss. That was another thing that got Sara nervous about the crystal; animals had a natural, instinctive, sense about weird things. What was it about this crystal that had Fuzz freaking out so much?

But it did good things for her all the time. It helped her with her tests, although it mainly cheated for her. It increased her speed and agility during soccer and even healed a wound. What was so bad about something that assisted its owner?

Sara even considered what it could do for incurable diseases; would it be able to heal them too? Would she be able to help others so that they would never have to go through the hardship that her family went through?

Then, there came a scary thought. Could it be used for evil deeds? Could someone us it to control minds, topple enemies, or even kill someone?

Sara shuddered. She would never do that. But what if someone had found the crystal and tried?

A horn honking outside of her apartment startled Sara but she smiled when she realized Zoë had come. Sara grabbed the box with the shard in it and raced out of her apartment.

* * *

Draka and his group were heading straight for where the Crystal Shard supposedly was. The tracking devise gave off its signal clearly and they were able to capture it with the computer on their wrist gauntlets. The sun of the planet began to fall when the signal began to move.

Draka cursed. A human was in possession of the shard most likely now. Draka told his group to run faster as they chased the signal.

* * *

"So, what's so important that you needed to tell me? Got a new boyfriend?" Zoë asked with a smile.

"I wish," Sara said pulling out the box.

"Is that the box you found the crystal in?" Zoë asked leaning forward for a better look.

"Yep," Sara pressed the release switch for the box and took out the crystal, "but it's no the box I'm worried about, but this." Sara held up the crystal.

"What about it?"

"I think this thing has powers or something." Zoë started to laugh. "I'm serious!" Sara growled. Zoë definitely wasn't taking this seriously enough.

"Ok, what kind of "powers"?" Zoë asked. Sara could tell Zoë was humoring her.

"Well, my math test for one."

"That was just a miracle."

"Soccer tryouts."

"You're getting better."

"I'm hearing voices in my head."

"Voices? What do they say?" Zoë asked, starting to get interested.

"Well, at the time, they were telling me the answers to my English test. And they sounded like the kids in my class." Zoë stared hard at Sara trying to figure out if this was a joke.

"And the cut on my leg is gone; it healed already." Sara showed Zoë both her legs to prove it. Now, it was Zoë who looked freaked out.

"Let me see," Zoë said holding her hand out for the stone. Sara gave Zoë the crystal. Zoë examined it more closely this time.

"Think of something. Something that has meaning to you," Zoë told Sara. Sara just thought of her father and how he was hurting her.

Zoë's eyes widened and she dropped the shard with a yelp. "Holy crap, you weren't joking! Were you thinking about your dad?" Sara nodded and Zoë gasped. After a few minutes Zoë calmed down enough to ask to see the box the crystal was once in.

After looking it over a few times Zoë glanced at Sara, "Well, I think I know who this might belong to."

"Who? What person?" Sara said in shock. Zoë was smart, but if she knew the person it belonged to, she was a stinking psychic.

"I don't think they're a person." Zoë pointed to the carving of the creature on the front of the box. "I think it might have belonged to one of these guys."

"I thought it was just some carving of a god to protect it or something," Sara replied.

"Or it could be that," Zoë agreed. Zoë glanced at the box again. "What is that blinking light?"

"I don't know. It's not a bomb or it would have gone off by now. I pressed one of the symbols and it came on."

"Uh-oh," Zoë said giving Sara a nervous look.

"Uh-oh?" Sara echoed, "What uh-oh?"

"That might be a location devise." Sara looked at Zoë in disbelief.

"How do you know that?"

"I watch a lot of movies," Zoë replied simply, "And most tracking devises have a blinking light just like that one.

"Oh great," Sara grumbled.

"It's ok. We should probably get rid of the box, if it is a tracking devise. Just to be safe." Sara nodded her consent and glanced out the window. It was almost dark.

"I'd better go," Sara stood and grabbed the crystal and reached for the box. Zoë however stopped her.

"I'll get rid of the box in the stream that runs through the woods. Remember it?"

Sara nodded; Zoë's backyard bordered on a small forest. There was a stream about fifty yards into the woods where Zoë could just toss the box and have the current carry the box away. They had often played there in the summer when it got hot.

"See ya," Sara said, turning to leave.

"Hey, we can give you a ride," Zoë offered.

"No thanks. My house is only a few blocks from here I can walk," Sara pulled out the crystal and waved it at Zoë. "Who knows; maybe I can fly!" Zoë laughed as Sara left the room and then the house, heading home.

"_I wonder if I can fly,"_ Sara thought.

* * *

Once Draka believed he had found the location of the crystal, he notified the two other groups through the communicators they had on their wrists.

"We must set up a perimeter. Jeggred," he referred to second blooded warrior, "Set up your group southeast of the signal and Sek'lett, set yours up northeast of the signal. If the human escapes I will alert you of its progress and you must capture it."

Sek'lett's hologram-like screen disappeared as Draka ended his message. Sek'lett turned to his group.

"Kre'shan, come with me. We are going further north. Illi'thus, Ven'tise, stay here and keep your guard. If all goes smoothly, we will not be needed. And stay_ here_; I will come for you when the Crystal Shard is captured."

Sek'lett and Kre'shan leapt off the building they were currently on top of and ran north. Ven'tise sat down on a ledge.

"Naturally Leader Draka's group gets to see all of the action," Ven'tise remarked. Illi'thus nodded in agreement. They had both hoped to at least see a human, if not interact with one.

"We are to obey our orders," Illi'thus reminded Ven'tise so the Yautja would not go off and try to find a human.

Ven'tise sighed and dipped his head, disappointed.

* * *

"I'll be right back mom!" Zoë shouted, throwing on a jacket and heading outside. She decided to get rid of the box as soon as possible; she didn't like the creepy feeling the little blinking light on the box gave her.

Zoë entered the woods, her shoes making loud crunches on the dried leaves and sticks. There hadn't been a good rain for a while, leaving the ground parched. A bright moon lit up the forest, casting eerie shadows everywhere.

Zoë felt her heart speed up in nervousness, but she shook the feeling off. How many times had she wandered in this forest during the day, making sure she knew every tree and bush up to the stream?

With a relieved sigh, Zoë heard the rushing stream; a storm north of here must have replenished the waters.

Zoë stood by the stream looking at her reflection in its black waters. She was about to toss the box when she heard a noise.

A crisp snap of a twig.

Normally, Zoë wouldn't care; probably just some nocturnal animal, out hunting for dinner. But, normally there weren't four gigantic creatures racing their way towards her crossing the relatively wide stream.

Zoë immediately recognized them as the creatures carved on the box. Zoë chucked the box away and turned to run. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the creatures captured her pulling her away without a sound.

_Did you like it? I hope so! In chapter 6, Sara gets her first encounter with Illi'thus and Ven'tise! The more reviews I get, the faster the chapter will be up!_


	7. Curiousity Screws Up the Mission

_Hey guys! I finally updated! Sorry it took so long… my kitty Fluffy died and just couldn't get into the mood to type… but I finally did and this was made! Hope you enjoy it!_

**Chapter 6: Curiosity Screws Up the Mission**

Sara walked home quickly; she didn't like being out at night. She silently wished that she would have taken that ride from Zoë.

Sara was also nervous about Zoë keeping the box. What if whoever owned the crystal came after Zoë? Sara shook the notion away; if they didn't come when she had the box, they probably weren't coming at all.

Sara touched the crystal and felt it's warmth on her hand, feeling strangely comforted. Sara kept walking feeling that things would work themselves out.

* * *

"Illi'thus!" Ven'tise whispered urgently to his companion. "Illi'thus! Get over here!" Illi'thus jumped up from his spot and ran over to where Ven'tise was standing. Looking down, he saw a small, strange creature walking towards the building. A human!

"They _are_ small," Illi'thus said, using his mask to zoom in on the creature. How bizarre looking it was.

"I think it's female," Ven'tise said randomly.

"Of coarse you would be the one to notice that!" Illi'thus replied with a laugh.

"Quiet! It's almost here," Ven'tise said as the creature continued to approach.

* * *

Sara felt as if someone was watching her. She tried not to glance around or pick up her pace. But she really didn't like the fore boarding feeling she was getting. She touched the crystal in her pocket again to find it had gone cool.

"_Why would it do that?"_ Sara wondered; maybe because she was nervous. Sara continued to walk, seriously regretting refusing Zoë's offer.

* * *

The creature walked under them without even showing that it noticed them. Were humans _that_ ignorant of their surroundings? Illi'thus sighed as the human passed them. At least they got to see it.

"I want to get a closer look," Ven'tise said, running parallel to the creature.

"Ven'tise, get over here!" Illi'thus whispered, annoyed. If he didn't learn to curb that curiosity of his, he was going to get himself killed someday.

Ven'tise reached the end of the building, but didn't stop. He merely jumped the small alley and continued on his way.

"Ven'tise!" Illi'thus hissed, running after his partner.

Ven'tise stopped at the next alleyway, watching the human approach once more.

"What are you _doing_!" Illi'thus said angrily.

"Getting a closer look," Ven'tise replied watching the human walk past them again.

"Well you've got your look. Let's go… Ven'tise!" Illi'thus watched as his friend jumped down into the alley landing with a rather loud thud.

A normal Yautja warrior would have been able to land silently, but unfortunately, Ven'tise was not very good with stealth.

Illi'thus glanced at the human; it stopped and was looking around. Ven'tise remained perfectly still. He looked up at Illi'thus who was gesturing for him to get back on the roof. Ven'tise walked to the wall and began to climb it only so slip and fall down with a crash.

* * *

Sara heard a crash and took off. The crystal increased her speed, but she could hear her stalker in pursuit.

Turing around a corner and ducking into an alley, Sara had an idea. She could hear her stalker coming in fast so just before they passed the alley, Sara stuck her foot out, hoping to trip them. She just hoped they hadn't seen any James Bond movies where he used this particular trick.

Although she felt something trip over her foot and heard it fall, she didn't see anything. That was until a few seconds later when a huge creature suddenly winked into view. Sara stared at the thing and it stared back.

She heard a shuffling above her and saw another one looking down at them. With a gasp, Sara turned and ran away as fast as she could.

* * *

As soon as Illi'thus realized Ven'tise was uncloaked, he realized how much trouble they were in. He remembered Draka's words if this were to happen; eliminate the human.

Unfortunately, the human looked up and saw him. He hadn't been cloaked because he didn't want to run down the battery for the cloaking devise.

As he saw the human run, he jumped down, landing beside Ven'tise and they began to chase the human.

* * *

Sara heard the creatures come after her and she ran faster, with the assistance of the crystal.

Sara whipped around and corner and made her way up a fire escape. As she reached the roof, she heard the creatures begin to climb the building. Sara raced across the flat roofed house, coming to another alley. She was able to clear it with ease.

She did the same for three other buildings, finally coming to another fire escape. She turned and slid down it, holding on with her hands only. Her feet hit the ground, stinging, but she continued her run, having no idea where she was going.

Under the street lights, Sara got a good look at her hands. They were red with blood after the cuts they gained from sliding down the ladder. But right now, they were the least of her problems.

* * *

Ven'tise followed the human up the building, but Illi'thus did not. He did know that humans couldn't fly, and it would be back on the ground soon enough.

* * *

Sara could still hear the one creature on the roof, but relatively far behind her. Maybe she was going to out run them after all.

Her hopes were dashed when, as she turned a corner, the second creature tackled her to the ground.

The creature held Sara to the ground, but that didn't stop her from screaming.

* * *

Illi'thus saw the creature climb down from the building and he knew how he could capture it. He waited in the shadows hearing the approach of the human, finally taking it to the ground.

The creature emitted a loud shriek, along with a bunch of words in its own language. Illi'thus quickly clamped his hand over the human's mouth.

Ven'tise landed beside him a few moments later, out of breath. "That one was fast," he said looking at the struggling human. "Are you going to kill it?"

"Kill it! Why?" Illi'thus asked looking at Ven'tise.

"You know what Leader Draka said, it can't be left alive."

"I'm not going to kill it because you allowed yourself to be seen!" Illi'thus retorted.

"It tripped me!"

"Well if you hadn't followed it, it wouldn't have tripped you."

Ven'tise and Illi'thus continued to fight, oblivious to the human's struggles.

* * *

Sara stopped moving as the creatures spoke to one another in growls, clicks, and gurgles.

"_A weapon. I need a weapon,"_ Sara thought glancing around. She remembered the crystal in her pocket. It had a pretty sharp point on it. Sara reached into her pocket, making sure she did not draw the creature's attention.

* * *

Ven'tise opened his mouth to say something further when his wrist computer started beeping, indicating a message was received.

"Hold on a second, and keep that thing quiet!" Ven'tise opened the receiving channel and a hologram came up; it was Sek'lett.

"Where the _pauk_ are you?" Sek'lett snarled angrily.

"We, uhhh, thought we saw something," Ven'tise replied, trying to come up with a good lie.

Sek'lete sighed over the channel, "Just get back here. We think we've found the Crystal Shard and…"

Sek'lett continued to speak as Illi'thus held the human in submission. He, however, didn't notice what the human was doing.

* * *

Sara got the crystal in a strong grip. The creatures were speaking to some hologram thing.

Sara could almost feel strength pulsing in the crystal. She just hoped she'd be strong enough. Sara twisted out of the creature's grip, taking a chance and stabbing it in the hand.

The creature yelped and pulled back enough for Sara to get her foot between her and the creature. Shoving as hard as she could Sara pushed the creature off of her and into its comrade.

Sara jumped to her feet and raced away, hoping the creatures wouldn't follow.

* * *

Illi'thus saw the thing the human held. Was that the Crystal Shard? No, it couldn't be. Sek'lett said they had found it.

Whatever it was, it hurt like acid when it penetrated his skin. Illi'thus shouted in pain and pulled back. The creature, showing much strength for its size, shoved him into Ven'tise, knocking them to the ground.

"What are you idiots doing!" Sek'lett roared on the communication line.

"Just having some minor difficulties; we'll be there in a minute," Ven'tise said quickly, shutting off the transmitter. Ven'tise started to go after the human, but Illi'thus stopped him.

"Let it go. It won't do any harm. We'd better get back to Sek'lett or he's going to kill us." The two Yautja ran back towards where they came, Illi'thus glancing over his shoulder at where the human had run.

_So… did you like? They let Sara get away…Want more? Please Review!_


	8. Plans

_Hey people! I'm still alive, which is a miracle considering what my teachers have been putting me through… anyway, I tried to make the chapter a bit longer. Hope you guys like it and I promise I will update again within a week! Thanks for all of the reviews and all of the patience you guys have been giving me!_

**Chapter 7: Plans**

Sara ran into her home, locking her door as fast as she could. She didn't see or hear those things after her, but she wasn't taking any chances.

Sara didn't sleep at all that night. Every second she expected those creatures to come flying through her window. What were they? Some sort of lizard monsters? And where in the world did they come from?

Sara grabbed Fuzz who was sleeping in his basket by the kitchen and carried him into her room; she couldn't help but feel safer around him, though Fuzz attacking one of those beings was like attacking a T-rex with a stick.

After running into her room and locking her door, Sara took out the crystal and threw it in her desk drawer as if it was going to bite her.

"At least I know what they who they are and what they want," she told Fuzz, clutching him to her chest as he began to purr. She had recognized them; they were the creatures from the symbol on the box the crystal had been in; Zoë was right.

"And what about Zoë? Was she ok? Or did more of those creatures come after her?" Sara asked Fuzz, suddenly alarmed.

"_No_," Sara thought, telling setting Fuzz down. _"She's fine. She's probably asleep right now._" Sara resisted the urge to grab her phone and call Zoë immediately. It was past ten o'clock and she knew that both of Zoë's parents went to bed early being they both worked; disturbing them would be rude.

Sara settled for grabbing a book and trying to read to take her mind off of the fact that those things could find her at any moment. She knew worrying about it would not help and only make her more edgy.

After reading the same page in her book three times and not absorbing a word, Sara set down her book and tried to sleep; with the lights on of course.

* * *

By the time dawn broke, Sara was exhausted. She had not gotten even a wink of sleep. She had been wondering the whole night whether Zoë was ok or not. Sara hadn't gotten any horrifying calls which started with Zoë screaming from help only to have the line disconnect at the last moment. 

Sara jumped when Fuzz sat up abruptly, yawned and stood shakily, only to wobble and plop back down on the bed.

"At least you got a decent night's sleep," Sara commented, stroking Fuzz and wishing she could be that carefree. Sara hopped out of bed, got dressed, grabbed the crystal out of her drawer and headed down the hall, Fuzz following at her heels. Sara walked to the kitchen, filling Fuzz's bowl, and getting a piece of fruit to eat.

She glanced at the crystal she had brought down with her. Where did it come from and what where those creatures? Sara almost wished the crystal had the ability to answer her questions.

There was one good thing though. They didn't have school on Monday; it was an in-service day.

"_Yeah, one more day for those things to chase me around,"_ Sara thought. She glanced up at the clock. It was seven. She couldn't call Zoë for at least two more hours; she felt bad enough when Fuzz woke her at nine to feed him, what would it be like for Zoë at seven?

Sara wasted away the two hours watching TV and playing with Fuzz. Finally, nine AM was there.

Sara quickly dialed Zoë's phone number. The phone rang once, twice…

"He…Hello?" said an older female voice.

"Hey, Mrs. D," Sara said brightly, realizing she was talking to Zoë's mother, "Is Zoë around?"

Sara expected Mrs. D. to say, "of course honey," and pass the phone to Zoë who would quickly calm her and tell her she was find and she had gotten rid of the box…

"Oh… Sara… she's… she's gone! We don't know where she is!" Mrs. D. sobbed on the line.

Sara slammed the phone on the receiver, grabbed the crystal and her jacket, and ran out of the house headed the Zoë's home.

* * *

Leader Draka was frustrated. No, not frustrated… more furious. The stupid human refused to tell him where _Sater Kreshebon_ was! He paced in his quarters, trying to think of a way of finding _Sater Kreshebon,_ now that their only lead was gone. 

At first, the human female seemed terrified. They had hoped she would relent quickly and tell them the location of _Sater Kreshebon_. But slowly, she began to realize the Yautja couldn't kill her, unless they didn't want _Sater Kreshebon_ back.

They had retrieved the container that was supposed to hold _Sater Kreshebon_, but it was empty. Obviously the human had given the Crystal Shard to another and tried to dispose of the container. Tricky little creatures.

Now, she sat in a locked room, refusing to speak or even acknowledge the Yautja.

Leader Draka had considered using interrogation techniques, not providing the human with food or water, but that would be unhonorable. He had to figure out some way to either get the human to tell him where _Sater Kreshebon_ was, or find it on his own.

* * *

Illi'thus and Ven'tise sat thinking about the human they had encountered. He wondered what happened to it after they had let it go. Plus there was a rumor going around the students that they had not found _Sater Kreshebon_. 

And Illi'thus thought he saw _Sater Kreshebon_ in the possession of the human.

If it was _Sater Kreshebon_, how were they going to find the human now? Illi'thus had only told Ven'tise of his suspicions, and at the moment, was mentally kicking himself for not going after the human.

"Why don't we look for the human?" Ven'tise asked.

"And have Leader Draka rip our heads off when we tell him why? I don't think so," Illi'thus answered.

"Well, we don't _have_ to tell him. We can sneak out."

"Have you gone insane? They would kill us once they found out we were gone."

"But what if we found _Sater Kreshebon_? I don't think they would kill us then." Ven'tise argued.

"What if we didn't?"

"We'll come back before they notice that we're gone. Why don't we go tonight, while everyone is sleeping? We can go back to where we originally saw the human and see if it uses the same route."

Illi'thus sighed; he couldn't defeat Ven'tise's idea; plus the sooner they got off this world the better. "Fine. We will go tonight."

* * *

There were two police cars parked outside of Zoë's house when Sara arrived. Sara ran inside and quickly found Zoë's mother in tears, sitting in a chair. 

Sara gave the woman a hug and asked her what happened to Zoë.

"I… I don't know," she said between tears and sobs, "She told me that she was going outside for something and when she wasn't back I got nervous and went looking for her. But, she was just gone!" Zoë's mother broke into sobs again, which nearly overwhelmed Sara with guilt.

It was her fault. Those… things went after her, but they found Zoë. Now she didn't know what to think. Was Zoë dead? Were they torturing her? Sara decided to go to Zoë's room to see if the box was still there.

As Sara expected, it was gone. The police were taking picture of the place and trying to find clues of where Zoë was.

However, there were three men in suits who looked out of place. They had some sort of scanner and where seemingly scanning every inch of the room. Sara turned to leave and nearly bumped into a fourth guy, wearing a similar suit.

"_What is this? A contest to see who looks like an agent from the Matrix?" _Sara thought, giving the guy a curious look.

"Are you the girl's sister?" the man asked her.

Sara gave him an annoyed look, "The _girl's _name is Zoë, and no, I'm a friend." The man gestured for Sara to sit down in a chair.

The man raised a brow, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?" the man pulled out a small notebook and pen.

"Ok… what kind of questions?" Sara asked. She just hoped that she didn't let something slip and end up being dragged off to the funny farm.

"Just some simple questions so we can best guess where Zoë may be."

"Alright," Sara said, calming herself down and trying to keep her breathing even so she wouldn't make the guy suspicious.

"Well, what your name?" the man asked, pen at the ready.

"I'm Sara Kramir."

The man scribbled her name down, set down the pen, and held out his hand, "I am Officer Hart." Sara hesitated, but finally shook the man's hand; it was rough with calluses.

"Now, how long have you known…Zoë?"

"Elementary school I think." Sara felt nervous around this guy, not to mention the crystal warmed in her pocket.

"Alright; has she shown any odd behavior? Not eating, being very quiet?"

"No, nothing." The man scribbled more things down in the notebook. Sara had to admit that this was, in a way, kind of funny. Here she was answering some government dude's questions about where her best friend was when she knew the answer.

Sara held back a laugh when she though of what the man's reaction would be if she told him that she thought Zoë was kidnapped by huge monsters who wanted a magical crystal that she happened to have in her possession at that very moment.

"Have you noticed anything strange going on in the neighborhood? Anything, just plain weird, going on?"

"_Yeah, a bunch of invisible monsters have been running around, but that happens in every town eventually,"_ Sara thought. "No, nothing that I've noticed in particular." Sara knew that she must have hesitated because the man was giving her a piercing look.

Eventually, the man sighed and dismissed her. Sara was glad to leave; she _really_ didn't like that guy.

* * *

After Sara left, the man turned to one of his fellows. "Keep an eye on that one; I think she might lead us to something."

* * *

Sara left the house with another hug and a goodbye to Zoë's mother. As Sara walked down the streets, she thought of all the things that had happened because of the crystal, especially Zoë's disappearance. 

She highly doubted that Zoë was still alive… those things didn't seem like the most friendly creatures in the world.

As tears began to fall unbidden down Sara's cheeks, Sara turned into a small alley, not needing anyone to see her cry.

Sara stood in the alley, wiping away the tears and felt some pent up anger gripping her. Why did this have to happen to her? What did she do? And why was Zoë taken? She hadn't done anything!

With a wordless cry of grief, Sara threw the crystal as hard as she could away from her. She expected to hear the crystal shatter on the ground, but was surprised to see it bounce away silently, not so much as scraping the ground.

Sara walked silently over to the crystal. She had decided that it was too dangerous to be left intact. Who knew what those creatures would do if they got their hands on it? Not to mention what may happen if some cruel person got it.

She was going to destroy it. She couldn't save Zoë, so she was destroying this thing so that no one else would be hurt. She knew that the crystal, for all of its power, may create a small explosion, possibly killing her and if it didn't, surely the creatures that originally owned it would. But she knew that she had to destroy it.

When she found a decently large rock, she set the crystal down and took aim. She threw the rock down at the crystal as hard as she could, waiting for the sound of the crystal shattering.

But it was not the crystal that shattered, but the rock. The rock crumbled as it hit the crystal and Sara stood in shock. It can't be destroyed. Sara stooped down and picked up the crystal only to sit down and lean against one of the buildings.

Tears ran down her cheeks; she couldn't even get rid of the thing that caused so much trouble. A small breeze blew though the buildings, pushing a stray tin can rolling into Sara's leg.

Sara took a half-hearted swipe at the can, not coming close to batting it away; but the can flew away as if she did hit it.

Sara glanced at the, now glowing, crystal. Glancing at another, decent sized rock, she imagined it coming to her. She gave a shout of surprise and shock when it did just that.

"Now this thing gives me telekinetic abilities," Sara said shaking her head. Suddenly, an idea popped into her head. Maybe she could find the creatures and have them give her Zoë back; and if it was too late…

"_No… she's still alive," _Sara thought stubbornly. Zoë was alive, and the crystal seemed to be providing the only way to get Zoë back safely.

Sara thought briefly about fighting against the creatures. She had never considered it before, thinking that they would kill her in a few seconds, but now nothing could seemingly harm her.

Sara smiled when she knew where she could find them. She would go back to where she had met them the last time and confront them. They must be intelligent if they had holograms. Heck, the only holograms humans had where the Christmas light ones on _Star Trek._

Sara picked up the crystal and headed home; she was going to need some practice.

_I hope you liked it! Please Review and the next update is coming!_


	9. And the Bad Guys Are Who?

_I'm back with a new chapter! Hope you guys like it! Thanks for all of the reviews!_

**Chapter 8: And the Bad Guys Are… Who?**

Illi'thus and Ven'tise waited on top of the roof of the human building where they had been posted the last night. The single ivory moon was hidden by the large dense clouds of the world.

"Do you think that it's going to come back here again?" Ven'tise asked Illi'thus.

"It's a female and it is possible." As much as Illi'thus wanted to believe that statement, he really didn't think that they would find the creature again. Illi'thus glanced back towards the street, but this time, he saw something.

It was the human. There was no doubt. Illi'thus signaled Ven'tise to go around behind the creature so if it tried to run, he could cut off its' escape.

Illi'thus couldn't believe their luck! They were going to capture it!

* * *

Sara walked down the street she had first met the creatures on. She knew that it would be the best place to start looking for them. They had to still be looking for the crystal so it shouldn't be as hard finding them.

Sara's eyes kept darting back and forth, looking for anything out of place. She remembered that the creatures could go invisible and that was a very bad thing for her. They obviously could see her well enough at night; she could only hope one was nearby…

Sara knew there was one behind her as soon as the crystal began to cool. She still didn't understand why it did that, but she knew that it must be important. Maybe the cooling signified danger of some sort or was just a warning that she was being watched. Whatever the cooling meant, the crystal only did that when one of those creatures were nearby.

Sara kept walking at a steady pace, keeping her breathing as even as she could, and trying not to look suspicious. As her eyes began to flicker rapidly for some sign of the creatures, she stole a glance up at the sky. It was very over cast and the air almost felt damp; it was going to rain soon…

* * *

Ven'tise climbed along the walls of the human structures to the right of the human. He saw Illi'thus jump a few buildings ahead of the human watching it with every step. Ven'tise closed in until he was nearly parallel with the human. The creature just kept walking!

"_How ignorant these humans are!"_ Ven'tise thought. It stood no chance against him and Illi'thus.

* * *

Sara saw movement out of the corner of her eye and knew that it was time to put her plan into action. She knew that these creatures were definitely less than friendly; she had seen all of the armor and weapons they had. Sara never really liked violence, but she knew that in order to get these things to listen, she was going to have to put on one heck of a show of power. If you can't beat them, intimidate them. Sara planned to disable one of the creatures then face the remaining one. Just getting one of these guys to listen was bad enough, but two? Definitely not the best odds in the world. Of course, she had no intension of killing either creature; she just wanted to scare them enough to listen.

Looking in one of the alleys, Sara saw where she had planted the occasional brick or rock. With all of the armor they were wearing the night before, Sara knew that pillows would not slow these guys in the least.

"_It isn't like I'm going to shoot them…"_ Sara thought, trying to quiet her conscience that was telling her attacking something wasn't the best way to handel the situation, _"I'm just going to chuck a couple of rocks at them; how much more civilized!"_ she thought sarcastically.

Bringing up a picture of Zoë in her mind, tied in chains, Sara steeled herself. Once she saw another bit of movement to her right, Sara made her move.

She spun holding the crystal in her right hand and gestured to the rock with her left, causing the rock to shoot out of the alley and fly towards the creature.

The creature roared in pain as the rock made contact, knocking it from its perch and onto the ground where it appeared suddenly. Sara spun, ready to defend, when she heard a the other creature land behind her, but once she saw two shining metal blades flying at her, she knew that talking was probably the last thing this creature had in mind.

Sara used the crystal to dodge the blades and run, amazed at her speed though she knew what the crystal was capable of. She heard the two creatures in pursuit and she knew that she needed to find somewhere to hide. She thought of all the places she could go, but one stood out. The construction site; there were tons of holes and piles of dirt and rubble to hide in and around. Making an escape should be easy… she hoped.

* * *

Illi'thus felt his anger flare when the human threw a large rock at Ven'tise. Illi'thus winced when he saw the rock make contact with Ven'tise's head. Luckily the helmet protected him.

Illi'thus tried to wound the human, a cut on the arm or leg, but he missed when the human dodged faster than any Yautja could. He also saw the Crystal Shard, glowing brightly, aiding its current owner. The human used it to race around him and away, the Crystal Shard lending her speed. Ven'tise had finally stood and took up the chase, Illi'thus behind him.

* * *

"Sir, we are picking up to unidentified beings after the girl," one man in a tightly pressed suit said to another. They had been hiding out in a van for the past few days, told to look for any signs of the aliens they had been sent to the town to find and capture. So far they had only got one lead from a missing girl and their leading officer had told them to watch the girl to see if anything happened. Finally something did.

"Good," the Officer said with a hungry smile. This was what he had been waiting for.

"Send in the choppers."

* * *

Sara finally made it to the construction site, jumping over the fence easily and dashing around the rubble trying not to trip. She heard the creatures behind her do the same.

"_Damn, they're fast!"_ Sara though as she raced around the construction sight looking for a place to hide. Sara was able to take some quick turns and hid in a ditch behind a pile of rubble, the dust tickling the back of her throat and making her trying desperately not to cough and give away her hiding spot.

Sara sat as still and silent as she could. She couldn't hear where the creatures were and was getting nervous when it started to rain.

"_Great, just perfect,"_ Sara thought angrily. Suddenly she saw what looked like shocks of electricity coming from one of the buildings. She looked up and saw one of the creatures come into view. She gasped and hoped it wouldn't be able to see her.

Suddenly, Sara felt extremely cold. Sara touched the crystal, which was in her pocket and warm, but she was freezing. She glanced up and saw the alien look directly at her, only to look away and scan the area. Sara could still see herself and didn't feel invisible, just cold.

Suddenly, she heard the whirl of helicopter blades. Sara looked up and saw two helicopters flying in the direction of the construction site, bright lights shining as they approached.

"_The guys in the suits,"_ Sara thought. They must have followed her around and gone after the creatures. They must know about them then; but what were they going to do with the creatures? When gunfire went off from the helicopters, Sara knew exactly what the intentions of the men were.

Sara glanced up and saw the other creature, only twenty yards from her on top of a building, shoot a ball of blue fire at one of the helicopters. Sara could tell that he wasn't trying to hit the helicopters, being how far off the shot was. Maybe they didn't want to kill everyone… just her.

But the guys in the helicopters didn't think along the same lines as Sara. Next thing Sara knew, there was some kind of small missile fired from the helicopter at the creature. Although it hit below the creature, the building crumbled sending the creature falling to earth, along with stone and metal from the building.

Sara saw the creature fall in slow motion. Although no rubble would land on it, it would land on all of the rocks and sharp metal already piled at the base of the building, undoubtedly to its death. Sara concentrated on the creature, imagining it stopping in midair. She felt herself get warm again and her head ached slightly as if she was getting a migraine.

However, the creature stopped falling, upside down, about five feet from the ground. Sara approached the creature cautiously. It was facing the wall, so she spun it to face her. Although it wore a mask, it glanced at its body and surroundings, probably trying to figure out what happened.

It looked at Sara, its' head jerking back in shock then tilting in curiosity. Sara opened her mouth to say something to the creature, when another explosion rocked the ground, startling her. Sara saw the second creature fall off a different building landing about thirty yards from her.

With her concentration broken, the creature fell the remaining five feet to the ground.

"Oops," Sara said, looking the, now unconscious, creature. It was breathing so it was still alive. Sara concentrated on making the creature levitate about a foot in the air as well as its companion.

Sara looked up at the approaching helicopters. She imagined her and the creatures being invisible. She smiled as she saw her form fade away, as well as the creatures. Sara quickly ran away from the construction sight, the creatures in tow.

* * *

Once Sara was relatively far away from the helicopters, she was now confronted with a different problem.

"_What the hell am I going to do with these guys?"_ Sara wondered. She knew that they probably weren't friendly, but she didn't want those government wackos getting a hold of them. She'd seen too many movies about what might happen if they did.

Sara knew the only place safe would be her apartment. Reluctantly, Sara brought them to her apartment, keeping herself and the creatures invisible in case someone was going on a midnight stroll. Once inside she set them on the floor and found yet another note taped to the refrigerator:

_Sara,_

_There was a surprise business trip I had to go to. I'll be back tomorrow around midnight._

_Love,_

_Dad_

Sara reread the note and was surprised. He actually put the word _love_ in there.

"_Maybe he's finally getting over it,"_ Sara thought, but didn't get her hopes up.

"Now what am I going to do with you guys?" Sara said turning on the two creatures. She couldn't just leave them there on the floor, as appealing as the idea was.

Sara was struck with an idea. She quickly went to the janitors' closet in the apartment building and took the large amount of rope out of it. Using the crystal, she put one of the creatures in her dad's room on the bed and the other in the spare bedroom on the couch.

Again using the crystal, she had the rope bind the creature's hands and feet. She didn't know how tight to make the ropes, but she made sure they wouldn't be easy to get out of. With that completed, Sara went to her room and fell on her be exhausted. It seemed that the crystal drained your energy the more you used it.

Sara went into her room, locking her door, then fell onto her bed and into the oblivion of sleep.

_Well, there ya go! Hope you liked it. I'll try to update but finals are coming and I'm going to be so busy I might not have time to breathe… Please Review!_


	10. Fuzz VS Predators

_Yes I'm still alive! Thanks to all of my reviewers who have been so patient with me during this story. Just an FYI, I have completely changed the ending. I was looking at it and thought it was really bad so I completely changed it and I like where it goes! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 9: Fuzz VS Predators**

Sara was awoken by a strange roar of anger. Bolting upright Sara jumped off her bed and dashed towards her door tripping and nearly falling flat on her face.

"Graceful," Sara muttered, pushing herself up from the floor and shaking the sleepy-haze out of her head.

As she stepped into the hallway, listening to the strange sounds of something furious, it seemed the taller creature in her father's room was awake and wasn't happy.

Sara stepped into her father's room, moving slowly so she wouldn't scare the creature. The creature stilled and tensed when it saw her.

"Uhhh, hi?" Sara said. The creature shouted something and began to struggle against its bonds. Luckily, it seemed the rope was holding out rather well. Sara ran out of the room, running back down the hallway to her room. After a bit of rummaging through her room she found where she had put the crystal and ran back to her father's room.

The first thing Sara knew she had to do was calm the thing down. She didn't need it to have a heart-attack on her… if these creatures could have heart-attacks. She tried to go into the thing's mind, but she couldn't hear anything legible besides wave after wave of anger and panic. After a while the creature's shouts and struggles got very annoying and Sara couldn't concentrate on how she could communicate with it.

"Will you just cool it?" Sara barked at the creature. However, instead of English, strange growls and clicks came out of her mouth. Sara slapped her hand over her mouth in surprise looking at the crystal; so it could function as a translator too… Sara smiled; maybe she could finally be able to take a foreign language and learn something other than the swear words!

Turning her attention back to the creature, who had ceased its struggles and shouts when she yelled at it. It seemed to look her over once, and then it spoke, the same guttural, growling language that had come out of her mouth.

"How do you speak my language?" Sara was shocked that she understood the creature's words as clearly as if it had spoken English; it was a good thing the crystal functioned as a two way translator. Sara chose not to answer the creature's question, and instead, gave the best introduction she could think of.

"What's your name?" The creature paused, seemingly considering whether or not to answer, then answered.

"Illi'thus."

"Ok, Illi'thus, I'm Sara." The creature repeated her name and tilted its head at her.

There was a long awkward silence, and then Sara blurted out, "What are you?" Sara regretted saying it immediately; it just sounded plain rude.

The creature, however took no offence, "I am a Yautja."

Sara blinked, "A Yautja? Do you live underground or something?"

Illi'thus replied with a quick jerk of his head, "I am not from this world."

"_At least that explains why we've never seen anything that looked like these guys,"_ Sara thought. It also explained why the government guys were after them; she'd seen E.T. lots of times.

"_So this guy is an alien?"_ Sara thought, intrigued. Talk about different from the little green guys most people thought of as aliens; this guys was _far_ from looking like those little green dude; heck, he had to be at least seven feet tall! Seeing the alien shift in his bonds Sara realized how uncomfortable he must be; he seemed to have calmed down somewhat nor seemed intent on killing her.

"I'm going to release you, but you can't attack me, kill me, or do anything… destructive. Ok?" With a nod from the alien, Sara, keeping the crystal behind her back, nodded at the ropes, releasing Illi'thus.

Illi'thus jumped up and looked around the room, trying to take in ever detail of this new place, so much different from anything he had seen before. Sara, still curious, asked another question.

"Why were you chasing me?" Illi'thus seemed startled at the question, but answered truthfully.

"We believe you have something that belongs to my race; something of great power and importance."

"You mean this?" Sara held up the crystal. Illi'thus jumped, banging his head on the ceiling, and nodded.

"Yes, that is it. You seem to have found out how to use it."

Sara nodded, "Yeah, I used it a little, but the most stressing thing I've used it for was catching you when you fell off that building last night; sorry about the whole, dropping you on your head thing."

Illi'thus waved away Sara's apology; suddenly, though, he seemed panicked.

"Where is Ven'tise?" he asked, looking around.

"What's a Ven'tise?" Sara asked. For all she knew, this 'Ven'tise' was the box the crystal had originally come in.

"My comrade, who was with me before during the battle." Sara's memory of the other alien clicked in suddenly.

"Oh! He's in the other room." Sara led Illi'thus into the room containing his buddy. As soon as Sara stepped in the room, she knew something was wrong. The other alien, Ven'tise, was breathing raggedly and Illi'thus seemed highly stressed.

Illi'thus ran over to his friend, gently placing his hand on its neck.

"Is he ok?" Sara asked, not liking Illi'thus's reactions.

"No; his neck must have been severely twisted when he fell. It didn't break, but he is probably paralyzed, or he will be soon. He most likely will die." Illi'thus bowed his head and said a silent prayer for his friend.

"I'm sorry," Sara said, truly pitying the aliens. Suddenly, she had an idea.

Sara moved towards the fallen alien, and Illi'thus moved to stop her until she pulled out the crystal. She gently set it on the alien's chest. The crystal quickly began to glow, and the swelling in the alien's neck went down a lot.

Sara and Illi'thus waited for about a minute until the crystal stopped glowing. Illi'thus checked his friend's neck and was visibly relieved.

"He will live; he will be very sore, but he will live." Illi'thus turned to Sara. "Thank you."

Sara smiled and said, "I think we should let him rest," Sara used the crystal again to untied the bonds and led Illi'thus out of the room.

* * *

Sara sat in a chair listening to Illi'thus who was on the couch. "So, you guys lost this?"

"As far as the legend of it goes, yes. One of our warriors disappeared with it. A few years ago, it showed up again on your planet but we failed to retrieve it. Now, we've found it again."

Sara was much more relaxed now. She had asked Illi'thus about Zoë and he said that she was alive and well. Sara told him that she would be happy to give them the _Sater Kreshebon_, or crystal shard, back to them, but Illi'thus seemed a bit worried about that.

Plus, he told her how much trouble he and his friend were going to be in when they met up with the rest of their group; they had snuck away in the night and had planned to be back before dawn.

"What is the whole legend about this?" Sara asked, glancing at the crystal. Maybe Illi'thus could tell her exactly what this thing was capable of.

Illi'thus paused and began to speak, "From what I can remember, a god put its' power into _Sater Kreshebon _and gave it to a great Yautja warrior. It enhanced both mind and physical abilities to its wielder, no matter what the species. I know that it can't be used to harm other for pleasure. There was also something in the legend about _Sater Kreshebon_ bonding with a being, but I can't remember."

Suddenly, Illi'thus stopped talking and held up his hand to silence any other questions Sara had; he seemed to listen to something. Sara heard it too; it sounded like a quiet growl. Illi'thus looked at the coffee table that was between them and slowly reached under it.

With a shout, Illi'thus pulled his hand out from under the table, leapt back over the couch, and two twin blades popped out from inside the wrist gauntlet that he wore, both looking deadly sharp.

"Get back Sara," he said with a growl, his gaze not leaving the coffee table.

Sara quickly glanced under the table and didn't know whether to get angry or laugh her head off. Instead, she settled for screaming, "Fuzz! You little dweeb!"

"Fuzz?" Illi'thus just stared at Sara, most likely thinking she was insane.

Sara reached under the table and grabbed the hyper kitten holding him up for Illi'thus to see. "Fuzz," Sara stated.

"What is it?" Illi'thus said still standing behind the couch with his blades drawn.

"A cat; he's just my pet. You must excuse him; he is just a little bit… hyper. Most likely he was just trying to play with you." Illi'thus stared at the cat and retracted the blades as Fuzz started purring.

Eventually, Sara calmed Illi'thus down, and let Fuzz go. Illi'thus obviously didn't trust Fuzz. He was probably still suspicious of why Fuzz "attacked" him, or he was just embarrassed that he got scared by a four pound little ball of fur; Sara guessed it was the latter.

Fuzz however, thought this new visitor was a very fun toy. If Sara didn't know better, she would think that Fuzz was purposely teasing Illi'thus to see how many reactions he could get out of the high-strung alien.

Fuzz would pace back and forth just out of Illi'thus's reach and never take his mischievous eyes off of the alien. Illi'thus, Sara could tell, was getting very annoyed. At one point, Fuzz seemed to have given up on his game and left. However, the little sneak crawled under the couch and proceeded to swat at Illi'thus's leg, nearly giving him a heart attack.

Fuzz met his downfall however, when he felt he wanted a go with Illi'thus's dreadlocks. Illi'thus played stupid until Fuzz was in range and with lightning fast reflexes, reached out and grabbed the kitten. Holding Fuzz in front of his face Illi'thus issued a strange clicking growl. Fuzz responded with a high pitched mew and whacked Illi'thus square in the face, causing Illi'thus to drop him to the floor.

Fuzz, now taking his leave, proceeded out of the room in search of something more entertaining.

Sara finally finished laughing at Illi'thus and Fuzz's little episode, asked, "What do you really look like?" Illi'thus seemed confused so Sara elaborated, "Under your mask; at least I think it's a mask.

Illi'thus, having no idea whatsoever of how incredibly ugly Yautja seem to humans, took his mask off quickly.

This time, it was Sara's turn to jump over her chair with a shout. Illi'thus was confused until Sara said, "Jeez, you could've warned me!"

"Warned you of what?" Illi'thus asked.

"Well, not to be rude, but in a human's perspective, you are _ugly_."

Illi'thus raised a brow, "And you don't look too… appealing in a Yautja's eyes."

"_Thank God,"_ Sara thought, come out from behind her chair. Illi'thus put his mask back on, both for his comfort and the human's.

Suddenly, there was a loud bang and a yell. Illi'thus jumped up and ran into the room Ven'tise was in, Sara close behind him.

Ven'tise stood in the middle of the room looking around frantically. "Where is it?"

"Where is what?" Illi'thus asked, wondering if the fall had damaged Ven'tise's brain.

Suddenly, a too familiar ball of grey fur shot out from under a desk and took a swipe at Ven'tise's leg, causing the Yautja to positively freak.

"Fuzz!" Sara screamed trying to catch the kitten who was trying to attack this other visitor. Sara eventually caught the kitten as it tried to race past her legs. Sara quickly took the kitten out of the room, going to lock it in her bedroom while Illi'thus calmed his friend.

"That is enough from you!" Sara barked angrily at the kitten. She was actually glad the alien hadn't killed the kitten. Sara quickly left the kitten and ran into the room where Illi'thus was still trying to calm his friend.

"I woke up and it was sitting on my mask staring at me! How was I to know it was harmless! _Kainde Amedha_ carriers don't look too imposing but look what they do!"

Illi'thus, realizing that if he couldn't calm his friend down he may hurt himself, slapped Ven'tise.

Shaking his head Ven'tise seemed to come to his senses, "I'm fine now. I was just startled." Ven'tise saw Sara standing in the doorway and jumped backward in surprise. Then, confusing Ven'tise even more, the human spoke to Illi'thus in Yautja tongue.

"Is it safe to come in or should I wait out here?"

Illi'thus beckoned Sara into the room and said, "Ven'tise, this is Sara, the human that possesses the Crystal Shard." Illi'thus also explained how they came to be here and what Sara had done for Ven'tise, who promptly thanked her.

"What was that… thing?" Ven'tise asked. Sara left the room and came back holding Fuzz. "This is my pet Fuzz. He was playing with Illi'thus and found you, figuring that you would be another form of entertainment."

At Ven'tise's request, Sara let him hold Fuzz. She had to admit that seeing a creature as powerful as one of these guys holding Fuzz was pretty cute in a way. Fuzz seemed to like Ven'tise as well, but kept his eyes on Illi'thus, undoubtedly imagining what other torments he had in store for him.

_Hope you liked it! PLEASE REVIEW!_


	11. A Friendship

_Yep, another chapter from me! Thanks so much for all of the reviews and I hope you like it!_

**Chapter 10: A Friendship**

At Sara's request, Illi'thus and Ven'tise decided to stay for the day and leave at nightfall. Sara told them exactly how she had found the stone and the box that it came in.

"That's understandable," Illi'thus said, "the last time the Yautja had the Crystal Shard in their possession, the warrior stored it in that box. We thought it was destroyed in the explosion."

"Explosion?" Sara asked.

"Yes, he must have been taken down by humans and activated his self destruct.

"Oh," Sara didn't like the sound of self destruct. "But he wouldn't have to worry about that would he? The thing is indestructible anyway." Illi'thus and Ven'tise looked confused.

"How do you know that?" Illi'thus asked.

"I didn't know that," Ven'tise muttered.

Illi'thus shook his head, "If you had paid attention to Draka you would have heard him say it." Illi'thus glanced back at Sara and knew the answer to his question; she had tried to destroy it. A courageous act, but why?

"So, I give you guys this thing, you give me Zoë back, and everything's back to normal, right?" Illi'thus and Ven'tise looked at each other and Sara knew everything was not right.

"Okay, what do you guys know that I don't?" Sara asked, dreading the answer.

"Well… there is this… law," Illi'thus started, unsure of how to continue; how do you explain to a being that saved your life that they would be killed?

Ven'tise, fortunately, spoke bluntly, "It states intelligent creatures cannot know of our existence because it could alter their evolution and cause them to become extinct. Therefore, any creature that knows has to be eliminated."

Sara blinked and looked to Illi'thus to confirm the statement. _"Jeez, you could have sugar coated it a little,"_ Sara thought.

"So… your buddies are going to try to kill me, and most likely Zoë." Illi'thus didn't say anything and Ven'tise nodded solemnly. "Crap." Sara tried to figure a way out of this but came up empty. She could skip town and hide, but that wouldn't work; she had no where to go. The idea of going to stay with Alex briefly popped into her mind but she shook it away; Zoë was already captured due to this thing, there was no way she was putting Alex into that position.

Sara was about to ask them whether their commanders would accept her word not to speak of them when a loud knock came at the door.

"Hide!" Sara whispered urgently. The two Yautja cloaked and raced out of the room to hide in Sara's bedroom.

Sara walked over to the door and opened it. Sara bit back a curse when she saw who it was; one of the agent dudes from Zoë's place. This was definitely not what she needed at the moment.

"Hello, Miss Adolla. I am Officer Hart," he held up a badge, "May I come in?" Sara gave the badge a close look and nodded, letting the guy in. Hopefully she could get this little meeting over with quickly. Personally, she was wondering exactly how he found out where she lived.

Sara gestured to a chair and Hart sat down. "Miss Adolla, might I enquire where you were last night around midnight?" Hart gave her a stern, piercing feeling that she shuddered involuntarily.

"I was here," Sara answered with a shrug, "Where else would I be?"

Hart nodded, "Did you hear anything strange last night? Any noises or sounds?"

Sara was about to answer no, when she thought about the question. With the entire racket those guys were making at the construction sight, everyone in the building had been bound to hear it, or else some sort of rumbling.

"Yeah… there were some booming noises coming from outside like someone was shooting off fireworks."

Hart nodded, "Can anyone confirm that you were indeed here?" Sara stopped. Her dad wasn't here, but she couldn't think of anything else.

"Well, my dad's on business. Maybe the security cameras," Sara regretted saying that the moment she said it. That was just what she needed; for this guy to see her levitating two aliens into her apartment.

"How could that confirm it?" Hart asked.

Sara did some quick thinking and remembered that she didn't drop the invisible spell the crystal had until she was inside. The tape would probably just show the door opening and closing "I opened the door because of the noise to see if anyone noticed anything or had any idea of what was going on." Sara knew that she had hit the jackpot. Hart must have checked the tapes already and it seemed her story held out; at least so far.

"Would you mind if I had a look around," Hart asked.

Sara swallowed; if she refused he would get suspicious and know she was hiding something. "Well, I suppose. My dad isn't home though."

"That's quite alright, I'll be quick." Hart jumped from his chair and nearly ran down the hallway.

He meant to go into Sara's room, but Sara beat him to it and shut her door. With an innocent smile Sara said, "Sorry; my room's a bit of a trash zone." Hart gave her another of his piercing look and she felt her cheeks warm. She hoped that it looked like she was flushing from embarrassment at her room rather than looking guilty.

Hart slowly walked away from her room and walked down the hallway, looking at the different rooms, stopping at her father's. "What are the ropes for?" he asked.

"Uhhh…" Sara trailed off trying to think of something fast. Luckily, at that moment, Fuzz shot out from under her dad's bed jumping at Hart. Hart yelped at grabbed for his gun.

Seeing him groping for a gun, Sara quickly grabbed Fuzz and held him up, "Sorry, just my cat." Hart glared angrily at the kitten that shot the same look at him, hissing quietly.

Hart nodded stiffly and didn't pursue his previous question, probably wondering if any other psycho kittens were running around.

"Ok Miss Adolla. Thank you for your time." Sara saw Hart to the door and was about to shut it when he turned around and said, "If there is anything you need to tell me or want to tell me now, you will not be held responsible."

Sara gave him a confused look and said, "Nothing that I can think of except that I hope you find Zoë; I miss her." Sara gave Hart a very downcast look and he turned away not looking back. Sara shut and locked the door, pumping her fist in success.

"It's safe to come out guys," Sara called. The two appeared out of thin air.

"Who was that?" Illi'thus asked looking at the closed door.

"One of the guys behind the attack last night," Sara said with a shrug.

Ven'tise curled his hands into fists, "How I would love to gain vengeance on him."

Sara's eyes lit up, she smiled and ran into the kitchen coming out with a small paper bag filled with water. "Do you really want to get revenge?" she asked. Ven'tise and Illi'thus nodded, curious to see what she was going to do.

"Follow me, and go invisible." Sara led them out to her balcony. She was on the fifth floor of a seven level apartment building. Holding the bag carefully, she stared down looking for her target. Seeing Hart walk out of the door he called someone on his cell phone and started talking.

"What's he saying?" Sara asked Illi'thus; he had told her that their species senses were much strong than a human's were.

"He said that you know where we are, and he's going to catch you the first chance he gets." Illi'thus answered. Sara heard Ven'tise growl quietly.

"Not if I get him first," Sara replied waiting for the moment when Hart walked under her balcony. With perfect timing Sara released her water bomb, blasting Hart right on target. They all fell back into Sara's apartment, Sara shutting to door, bursting with laughter.

* * *

Nightfall came quickly, and Sara agreed to lead them out of the main town and on the outskirts of the forest; Illi'thus had told her that their ship was hidden in the woods.

While Ven'tise tried to get his tracking devise up on his wrist computer to get the general direction of the ship, Illi'thus and Sara began to say their goodbyes.

"We are going to lead our group away from here. It would be smart to leave this place and go as far as possible away from here. We will try to release your friend and give her your message to get to somewhere hidden and safe, but we cannot promise that she will be freed." Sara nodded.

"Who would think something as simple as a piece or rock could cause so much trouble." Illi'thus nodded and rested his hand on her shoulder. She tried to return the gesture but came up a bit short. "What should I do with it?" Sara asked

Illi'thus stared at the crystal for awhile, eventually sighing, "I'll take it. I'll tell my leader that while we hunted you we found it but you escaped. You still need to leave though. My group will probably still look for you but we will eventually leave. "

"I'd better go; Alex will be waiting for me." Sara said. She had called Alex and told him everything. Like she expected, he completely believed every ounce of her story and was coming to pick her up after she saw the two aliens off. He even agreed to help her get out of town. He had luckily not decided to go to college immediately so he was able to help her a lot.

Suddenly, Ven'tise called over to the frantically shouting something Sara struggled to decipher.

"They're coming! They're coming!" he yelped.

"What?" Illi'thus asked trying to calm Ven'tise down.

"The rest of the clan! They're coming! They must have tracked us here! They'll be here in a few seconds!"

"Take this!" Illi'thus shoved the crystal in Sara's hand, "You'll need it to escape. Run!" Illi'thus shouted at Sara as he and Ven'tise ran to head off their fellows.

Sara turned and sprinted away, unsure if she should use the crystal to run faster. From what Illi'thus said, the crystal glowed brightly when used and his kind could see it easily. And if she used the cloaking from them the crystal would still shine through; the rain and her jacket had hidden the crystal when she found Illi'thus.

When she heard the inhuman roars, she knew the game was up. Now activating the crystal Sara doubled her speed. Unfortunately though, the aliens, desperate for the crystal, began using guns.

Sara managed to dodge the strikes but one took her feet out from under her as she entered the town, causing her to fall and skid to a stop.

Sara groaned and pushed herself to her feet, starting to run again, her palms and elbows stinging.

As she raced down the dirt street that lead to the town she heard the wonderful rumble of a bike engine. Alexander pulled the bike up next to her and Sara hopped on immediately.

"Wow, that's the first time you've gotten on this bike without complaining," Alex commented with a smile which promptly vanished when he saw the raw fear in Sara's eyes.

"Well, when you've got hostile aliens shooting at you, you tend not to complain about other things too much; now go!" Alex revved the bike up and sped off down the road.

_Hope you guys liked it! Please review!_


	12. The Chase

_I just got back from vacationing in Florida! I went snorkeling and saw lots of fishies! Though there were two sharks circling our boat, it was fun! Anyway, thank you all for your review and I hope you enjoy the chapter!_

**Chapter 11: The Chase**

Sara and Alex flew down the road; Sara knew that they were _way_ above the speed limit of twenty five. Luckily, being a small town, there were no other cars on the roads.

She glanced back every few seconds to see if the aliens were following them. Sara wondered how Illi'thus fared with them. Sara shuddered to think of what they could do if they were angry enough.

"Shit!" Alex shouted, taking a sharp turn, nearly jolting Sara from the bike. Sara grasped his jacket tighter in her hands.

"What was that for?" Sara screamed, trying to slow down her heart.

"You didn't tell me that those guys were _that_ fast!" Alex replied. Sara paled; how did they get in front of them let alone know where they were. Sara realized that they must have tracked Illi'thus to her house and knew where she would return.

"Alex!" she shouted above the roar of the engine, "Don't go to my house! Go somewhere… anywhere else!" Alex seemed to understand and he took many turns, eventually riding back in the opposite direction.

Sara tried making them invisible, but she was too nervous, not to mention the fact that she would have to cloak the bike as well. The cloaking merely flickered and died. Sara glanced up and saw a flicker of electricity; they were following them still. However, they were just about to pass the area that Sara had originally meant to fight Illi'thus in; the rocks were still there.

Sara wished she could see better, but dealt with it. Taking her best guess on where the alien was, she calmed herself and used her mind to chuck a rock in the general direction. Although the shot wasn't a direct hit, it sent the alien stumbling.

Sara smiled and got ready to unleash as many rocks at the aliens as she could.

* * *

Illi'thus and Ven'tise brought up the back of the group. Once they went in the woods, their group found them and saw Sara. By some miracle, Draka believed they had been trying to help find the Crystal Shard and by staying with the human, delivered the shard nearly into the Yautja's hands.

That was good for them. Unfortunately, Sara and the male she was with were in serious trouble.

After seeing Sara use the shard to launch a rock at Sek'lett, Illi'thus and Ven'tise smiled; maybe she wasn't as nice as she seemed to be. Suddenly, many more rocks came flying at them. Illi'thus and Ven'tise stopped in their tracks, not wanting to enter the barrage.

* * *

Sara smiled as the aliens were forced to break up. Alex, however, found a more pressing problem.

"Uh, Sara?" he shouted over the bike.

"Yeah?" Sara smiled as yet another rock made contact.

"How long are these guys going to chase us?"

"I don't know; why?"

"I didn't think we were going to be chased, so there isn't much gas left in the bike!" Sara wanted to punch Alex at that moment. Out of all the times to run out of gas, this had to be the worst time possible in the history of mankind.

"What do you mean there isn't much gas left!" Sara shrieked.

"We have about ten minutes left of gas going at this speed; any suggestions of where we should go?"

Sara's mind raced; where to go? They needed a place to hide, at least for a while. Sara suddenly remembered the construction site. It was big with tons of places to hide. She had lost Illi'thus and Ven'tise when she was there before.

"Alex! Go to the construction site!" Alex nodded his approval and turned his bike in the right direction.

* * *

They managed to loose the aliens for a minute, but Sara knew they would find them easily.

Running through the sloppy mud, Alex and Sara looked frantically for the best place to hide.

Suddenly, a loud roar echoed through the night and a spear appeared out of nowhere flying at Sara and missing her, barely.

"Split up!" Alex shouted, pushing Sara behind a building and running off, making a racket so the aliens would hopefully follow him.

Sara, however, wasn't worried now. She was pretty sure the aliens would ignore Alex and come after her, only this time, she managed to calm herself down enough to make herself invisible; it seemed she had to concentrate in order for the Crystal Shard to work and she had been too nervous about what might happen to Alex to concentrate.

Once again, Sara felt as if she had been plunged into a tub of ice-water. She dove behind a pile of dirt, sat very still, and waited quietly.

She could hear the approach of two of the aliens. She knew they would look around the dirt pile only to see nothing of interest and head off.

Unfortunately, from the shadows, Alex watched the whole game play out; to him, Sara still seemed very visible.

Swallowing his fear, Alex jumped out and screamed at the aliens.

"Hey, ugly dudes! Look what I got!" Alex shouted at the aliens. Sara spun to look at him, trying to get him to shut up. The aliens almost ignored Alex until they saw something in his hand.

To the Yautja, it looked like _Sater Kreshebon,_ but Sara could also see it and realized it for what it was. Alex had found a piece of glass roughly the size and shape of the Crystal Shard and, from being in his hand, it looked warm.

The aliens roared and raced after Alex as he sprinted away.

"Damn it," Sara cursed. Why did Alex always have to play the hero? Sara stood up and ran out of the construction site, unsure of what to do. She was covered in mud and was freezing due to the Crystal Shard's invisible shield about her.

She knew that she couldn't go home; the aliens, once they caught Alex and realized the trick he played on them, would go after her there. For a fleeting second, Sara thought about going to the suit guys and ask for help, but she shook away that thought. She liked Illi'thus and Ven'tise; she didn't want them to get capture and have experiments preformed on them.

Sighing, Sara kept running, lost in thought, not even noticing the rain as it began to pour down on her head.

* * *

Draka slapped the male human across the face in fury. He could not believe his warriors had been tricked!

Two of his warriors brought the human to him, saying that it had _Sater Kreshebon_, only to find out the human used a fake to trick his warriors into going after him rather than the female that did have _Sater Kreshebon_.

And then the human had the boldness to laugh at him! Although it was brave, it was incredibly stupid to laugh in the face of an angry Yautja warrior. The human groaned at the power of the hit Draka dealt it.

Growling at his warriors to take the human back to the ship, Draka though carefully about his next actions. He could have his warriors keep searching for the human, but it would be very unlikely now that they would find it.

But they could not just give up. The Elders had given strict orders to retrieve _Sater Kreshebon_ or die trying. They were so close; they could not let _Sater Kreshebon_ slip out of their grasp again.

Agitated, Draka turned and headed back to his ship, sending a message to the others to do the same. His warriors would rest, and then they would be back, searching for the human.

* * *

Zoë looked up as the door to her cell in the alien ship opened. She had been doing stretching exercises, bored out of her mind in the small room.

The aliens had kept her there, giving her food and water. She also had a small bathroom that connected onto the room but that was pretty much it. She had tried to attack her captors numerous times, but never really succeeded in escaping. She was pretty sure she gave one of them a black eye, and she bit another, but after being locked up for a few days those small accomplishments were diminishing.

She was shocked to see Sara's cousin, Alexander, get thrown into the room. She had met him once before, but never really talked to him much. He looked like he had just spent a day rolling around in a mud pit.

Alexander groaned and sat up, watching the alien leave then jerking back in surprise at the sight of Zoë.

"Uhhh, hi. Do I know you?" Alexander asked Zoë. Zoë smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, you do. I'm Zoë, Sara friend." A spark of remembrance showed brightly behind Alexander's eyes.

"Oh, yeah, Sara introduced me to you. I'm Alexander, but call me Alex."

Zoë smiled, "So, how'd you get involved with these guys?"

"Helping Sara; you?"

"Same thing. Well, I guess Sara listened when I told her she needed to do more interesting things; although I was thinking more along the lines of a sport or something."

Alex nodded in agreement. "Sara told me you were going to help her in Math," Alex said, trying to draw his attention away from the fact that he was being held hostage by some rather nasty, killer aliens.

"Yep; her teacher, Mrs. Alen, asked me too, but I didn't tell Sara that because I knew she wouldn't do it."

"Smart idea," Alex agreed. Alex and Zoë continued their conversation, always with the thought that they may not make it out of this alive in the back of their heads.

_Well, anyone got an Idea on what gonna happen next? Please Review!_


	13. Chosen

_Another chapter from me! I hope you all like it! Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! And those lurkers who didn't feel like reviewing… I know your there… twilight zone music plays I love that hit counter! Lol!_

**Chapter 12: Chosen**

Sara awoke under a park bench. She vaguely remembered wandering there and collapsing into exhaustion. Her clothes were covered in mud and her hair was matted and dirty. Sara groaned as she pulled herself into a sitting position. Glancing at her watch, it was around nine, Monday morning.

"_No school, isn't that just dandy,"_ Sara thought. She sat up and began to walk towards her home. She luckily knew where she was and she was home in a few minutes. She thought about the aliens being there, but for whatever reason, Sara really didn't care any more. Alex was probably dead and they had probably killed Zoë too; why should she care? It wasn't like she was going to be alive much longer with those things after her.

Shaking the thoughts from her head, Sara quickly went in to her apartment locking the door and checking the entire place for signs of a break-in by the aliens but found none. She quickly took a shower, washing the dirt and grime out of her hair and putting on a fresh set of clothes. It felt nice to get all of that dirt and muck out of her hair and skin.

Sara's father still wasn't home and she was surprised not to find any signs of where he was; he had probably been held late at the meeting he was called to; that tended to happen often.

Sara collapsed on her bed, Fuzz jumping up and purring in her face, begging to be held and pet. Sara grabbed the kitten and began to sob heavily into his fur. As if he could sense her distress, Fuzz purred louder and snuggled up closer to Sara. After a few minutes of sobbing, Sara pulled her self together and gave Fuzz a kiss on his little head; he always made her feel better.

Sara, now that she could sit and think, considered her options. She could give the aliens back their rock and get killed; nope, definitely not the most appealing choice. She could try and kill them; no… she couldn't even bring herself to kill a spider on her desk, how could she kill a bunch of aliens, let alone ones that probably would kill her before she learned enough about the crystal to fend them all off at once? Maybe she should just get rid of the thing by throwing it in a lake or river; yeah, that would _really_ get the aliens pissed off.

Sighing, Sara had never felt such hopelessness. She sat in thought for over an hour finally coming to her resolve. She would give those homicidal alien's their rock back and take her due, even if it meant death. She just wanted to get rid of this thing.

"_Who knows," _Sara thought, with a fleeting bit of hope_, "maybe Illi'thus will get them to spare me."_ Unlikely, but still possible.

The only problem was how was she going to find the aliens? She had only seen them at night, but she didn't think she would be able to wait that long.

Sara was suddenly, struck with an idea. Maybe she would be able to find the aliens in Zoë's backyard, by the stream. She doubted they would be out in public by the construction site or in the streets.

Grabbing the crystal shard, Sara raced out of her home.

* * *

Sitting by the stream, Sara waited. She had been sitting there for the past few hours. She hadn't even seen a squirrel or deer or anything and was getting increasingly frustrated. She had put all her hopes on being able to find the aliens here but it seemed she guessed the wrong place.

Finally, after waiting yet another hour, Sara jumped up from her spot at the base of a tree and screamed, "Come on, you butt-ugly jerks! You want this thing so bad, so come and get it!" Sara did feel a little better after her outburst, but _definitely _did not expect a response.

"We have come," said a deep, guttural voice. Sara eyes opened in shock when a dozen of the aliens appeared out thin air. The one that spoken had to be the leader of them, being he was the biggest of them all; she quickly regretted calling them ugly. Sara spotted Illi'thus and Ven'tise behind the leader.

"Kill her," the leader alien commanded. One of the aliens raised some sort of gun and fired. Sara flinched, expecting the projectile it shot to kill her. Suddenly, as if it hit some invisible wall, the projectile ricocheted and lodged into a tree a few feet away.

The alien's looked at Sara in shock. Sara personally had no idea what happened. However the leader alien did. He growled at Sara and spoke, "She is using _Sater Kreshebon._ It is protecting her."

Sara breathed a sigh of relief; maybe she wasn't going to die.

The leader glared at her and said, "Give us _Sater Kreshebon_."

Sara snorted a laugh and said quite bluntly, "No."

The leader's glared increased and he spoke again, "Give us _Sater_ _Kreshebon_ or your fellows die extremely painful deaths."

Sara blinked, "Zoë and Alex are alive?"

"Yes," the leader answered, "for now." The threat held in the air and Sara almost gave the leader the Crystal Shard, but stopped.

"Wait, why should I give you this if you're just going to kill me and my friends anyway?"

Sara could tell the leader was getting annoyed, "Because their deaths can be short and painful or fast and swift."

"Well, if you kill them, you're never going to get this back." Sara pulled out the Crystal Shard and waved it teasingly at the aliens.

The alien leader growled a laugh, "Eventually the _Sater Kreshebon's _powers will drain your strength; and then we will kill you and take it."

"If I have to die to save my cousin and friend, so be it," Sara growled back. The crystal grew inexplicably warm in her hand and Sara could have sworn it gave her a little shock, like a static electricity shock. But as soon as the reaction began, it stopped.

"You are willing to die for captured allies? You humans are more foolish than I imagined," the leader growled.

Sara tried some quick thinking, searching her mind for any plan she could use. Sara took the first one that popped into her head, "Let my friends go and I'll give this to you."

The alien leader laughed, "We can wait to take the crystal from your dead body once its powers drain you."

Sara laughed back and concentrated on making the crystal make her invisible. Once again she had the excessively cold sensation running throughout her body and Sara shivered. Luckily, her demonstration worked. The aliens couldn't see her and were panicking.

"How that you can see I can hide from you," Sara spoke, the aliens' eyes darting to her as she reappeared, "do you really want to risk how far I can get away from you while like this? You may never find me."

Sara almost gave a whoop for joy when she saw the alien leader's shoulders sag; she got them! "Fine, your comrades will be released, but not you. We cannot have a human so knowledgeable about the shard running about; you must be destroyed."

Sara gulped; it was her life in exchange for Zoë and Alex… what does a person say to that?

With a sigh, Sara said weakly, "Fine."

The aliens began to talk in their strange language, obliviously excited by Sara's acceptance of their leader's offer. After a few minutes, the chatter died down and the leader spoke.

"Good; now, give us _Sater Kreshebon."_ Sara started to hand the Crystal Shard to the leader, but stopped.

"I want to see Zoë and Alex free before I give this to you."

The leader seemed ready to strangle her, but nodded its consent. With that, the aliens began to lead Sara back to their ship.

* * *

Sara and the other aliens waited outside of the alien star craft as two of the aliens went to retrieve Zoë and Alex.

The alien ship was huge. A black silver metal colored and a reddish orange glow and white smoke came from the entrance.

Sara's inspection was interrupted by the alien's reappearing with Alex and Zoë. Alex was calmly walking out of the ship and smiled brightly when he saw Sara. Zoë on the other hand, always the fighter, was struggling tooth and nail to get out of the alien's grasp.

"Sara!" Zoë shouted happily when she spotted her friend. With a growl, Zoë managed to turn enough to kick free of the alien and run to Sara. The alien seemed to limp back to the rest of the group and glared at Zoë murderously. Alex was released and he too ran to Sara's side.

"Now," the alien leader said, holding his hand out, "_Sater Kreshebon."_ Sara nodded. She didn't tell Zoë and Alex that the aliens meant to free them and kill her; it was better that way.

"Here," Sara said, tossing the Crystal Shard to the alien leader who caught it. Gesturing to the others they readied their weapons and began to take aim.

Suddenly, the alien leader screamed in pain and dropped the Crystal Shard looking from it to Sara incredulously.

"What did you do? It burned me!" the leader snarled.

"I don't know…" Sara said.

Sara approached the Crystal Shard where it lay and picked it up. It didn't burn her. Sara remained completely clueless to what was going on. Sara handed it to Zoë who faced a similar fate as did the leader, claiming that the shard burned her.

Suddenly, one of the aliens started to laugh bitterly. "What are you laughing about!" the leader snarled at its comrade, Jeggred.

"Do you not remember the legend, Leader Draka?" the alien turned to Sara and spoke, "Tell us of what you did once you found _Sater Kreshebon._"

Sara quickly told them her tale, editing parts of it for Illi'thus and Ven'dise's sake. When she finished, Jeggred nodded knowingly.

"You tried to destroy _Sater Kreshebon _to protect others, knowing that it may have destroyed you in the process: courageous. You assisted what you believe to be your enemies in need: honorable. And you were to sacrifice your life for your fellows: a great act of spirit. Through each of those acts, you fulfilled the legend surrounding _Sater_ _Kreshebon_: Any creature that commits acts of courage, honor, and spirit using _Sater Kreshebon_ will cause it to bond to the creature for its life."

Turning to Draka, Jeggred spoke, "_Sater Kreshebon_ is hers; we cannot take it."

"Hold on a minute," Zoë interrupted, "How was I able to use it before, but I can't now."

"Your friend hadn't preformed the three actions that bonded _Sater Kreshebon_ to her yet. Anyone could have used it then," Jeggred replied simply.

If the situation was not so dire or shocking, Sara would have fell over laughing; all of that, and she has to keep the Crystal Shard! She couldn't believe it!

Sara almost felt pity for the aliens. They had tried so hard to get this thing, and now they had to leave empty handed.

Then the leader said, "Then she comes with us."

Sara gave the alien a blank look, "What?"

The leader raised a brow and repeated, "You are to come with us."

"Into space?"

The leader nodded, "Yes."

"Um, what if I don't want to go?" Sara asked. _"Go into space with a bunch of psychotic aliens? Not exactly the vacation I have always dreamed of,"_ Sara thought.

"You will go," the alien Leader replied, "We were instructed to bring the _Sater Kreshebon _back to our home world or die trying."

Sara gulped, _"So much for getting off free."_

"Now, you are to come with us." The Leader gestured to two aliens who began to approach.

"Whoa! Hold on a second!" Zoë said jumping in front of Sara, "There's no way you're taking her into space alone!"

The leader sighed, agitated, "We are not going to kill her. The _Sater Kreshebon_ will protect her so we cannot even harm her."

"That's not what I mean! She's not going alone 'cause I'm going with her!"

The aliens laughed, a clicking-chirping noise, "No you're not."

"Oh, Yes I am! Tell him Sara!"

Sara gave Zoë a look of horror. It was bad enough that she was being abducted by aliens, but Zoë coming with her? This had disaster written all over it, "What do you mean you're coming with me?" Pulling Zoë aside, Sara whispered urgently in her ear, "Are you crazy? You are not coming with me! I've been worried sick about you and the last thing I'm gonna let you do is come into space with a bunch of psycho aliens!"

"Look, I don't know what they may do to you. They may not know how to kill you, but they can toss you in a cell long enough so that you starve and then they'll take the crystal!"

Sara gave Zoë a scathing look, "And you being there will help me in what way?"

Zoë paused, "I'm not sure at the moment but either way you are not leaving this planet without me!"

"Um, Sara. You might want to hurry up your talk with Zoë. It looks like they're getting more impatient by the second," Alex warned, keeping an eye on the alien leader.

Sara sighed and turned to the alien leader, "Look, I don't want her to come, but I don't think anything I can do to make her stay here."

The leader smiled, "You may not but we can. Take your shielding off of her and we can drop her off where we found her. She'll never make it back here before we take off."

Sara considered; Zoë would absolutely freak if she did that, but at the moment it didn't seem like there were any other choices.

Sara was about to say yes when Zoë shouted, "I'll go to the feds if you leave me here!"

Sara spun, "How did you know about those guys?"

Zoë smiled evilly, "I've seen E.T. loads of times… I know wherever weird stuff happened, government dudes aren't far behind. They're probably swarming the area just waiting for a tip off of where you guys are…"

Sara glanced back at the aliens, surprised to find them looking somewhat nervous; the leader of the especially. The leader growled, "She is not coming. She hasn't been the most behaved of captives." Glancing at Alex, the leader seemed to think quickly, "He may come. He provided the least bit of violence and resistance."

Sara blinked and looked at Alex, "What do you think about all of this?"

Alex grinned and shrugged, "I always wanted to go into space."

Sara glanced back at Zoë who looked ready to kill, "Oh no! There's no way you're leaving me here and while taking him! That's not fair!"

"Life is never fair…" Alex muttered.

Unfortunately Zoë was not giving up, "I swear I'll go to the feds if you leave me here!"

Sara was on the verge of begging Zoë to give up and just go home when the leader barked, "Enough!" With an angry glare he turned on Zoë, "You may come. But at the moment I begin to expect that you plan to do something I don't like, I _will_ have you jettisoned!"

Sara blinked and leaned over to Alex and questioned, "Jettisoned?"

"It means he'll dump her into space," he whispered back.

Sara paled, "Oh…" Glancing at Zoë, she asked, "Do you still want to go?"

Zoë smiled, "Yes."

Sara merely shook her head. "I suppose we're going." Suddenly, a thought struck her, "Wait! I have to tell my dad where I'm going! Or at least say I won't be back for a while."

"Centanu take you, I have had enough of this!" the leader roared in fury. "You are coming with us now."

"I'm telling you the truth. If I don't at least go to my dad he'll have those fed dude running all over the place. If I can at least tell him I'm safe, he won't freak."

Sara watched the alien leader struggle to contain his anger. She also noticed some of the other aliens holding back laughter; obviously they found their leader becoming this furious amusing.

Eventually he sighed and gave Sara a calculating look, "How am I to know that you will not seek the safety of your… government once I let you leave."

"Leader," Sara watched Illi'thus and Ven'tise approach the alien, heads bowed, "We have been to the residence of this human before. We can accompany her to insure she does not run off; we would know if she was leading us into a trap."

The leader nodded, "You two will accompany them." Turning to Sara he added, "You have two hours to be back here before we come after you ourselves."

Sara nodded her agreement and quickly left the clearing with Zoë, Alex, and the two aliens.

_I hoped everyone liked this chapter! PLEASE REVIEW!_


	14. To Space and Beyond!

_Yes, this is an Epilogue, and yes, this is the end of the story. I know probably all my fans are grabbing pitchforks and lighting torches right about now, so I must assure you, I WILL continue this story in a sequel… as for now, read and enjoy! Thanks to all of those who reviewed, especially all the lurkers who came out of hiding!_

**Epilogue: To space, and beyond!**

"I can't believe I'm going to space with a bunch of aliens!" Sara said as she darted about her room, looking for the book she had most recently been reading.

"Indeed. I did not expect Leader Draka to take you, let alone your friends," Illi'thus answered. He was personally shocked at all of the recent happenings.

"Well, what do you expect?" Ven'tise asked, lounging on Sara's bed, "Do you know how much honor Leader Draka is going to receive for retrieving the _Sater Kreshebon_? That's probably why he was so impatient; he's so close to finally delivering the shard to the Elders that he can barely wait."

Suddenly, there was a loud knock at the door and a muffled voice yelling, "It's Zoë and Alex! If you do not open the door in a minute I will run to the feds being that you left us here!"

Sara chuckled. Zoë and Alex had both gone to each of their homes to assure their parents of their safety, and made it back to her apartment in under a half hour. Sara now had about forty five minutes to get back to the alien ship.

"Ven'tise, would you mind letting them in?" Sara asked. Ven'tise hopped off the bed and hurried out of the room. Sara finally found her book under her bed and jumped when Fuzz bolted out from underneath it.

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about you," Sara muttered, walking over to her desk where she had hastily written a note to her dad:

_Dad,_

_I can't tell you where I'm going to be for the next few weeks. All I can tell you is I'll be with Alex and Zoë and I'll be fine. Trust me; I'll be back._

_Love,_

_Sara_

She had wanted to write more but couldn't think of anything else to say. If the Feds got a hold of it, she wasn't about to be arrested for consorting with aliens when she did get back.

Now, she scribbled a P.S. reminding her dad to feed Fuzz. She heard the door slam and Zoë quickly entered her room, "Are you done yet?" she asked impatiently, holding a soccer ball under her arm.

Sara glared at her, "Well excuse me if I'm not as excited as you are to go into space with a bunch of aliens. And what's with the soccer ball?"

"Sorry," Zoë muttered, "I'm still a little ticked you had planned to go without me. And as for this, I've got to stay in prime condition for when we get back; we both made the team, remember?"

Sara shook her head in disbelief and asked, "Did you see your mom?"

Zoë shook her head, "No; I thought that seeing me would only make my mom feel worse about me leaving again. I left her a letter though saying I am safe though…" Alex walked in the room, listening to music on an MP3 player.

"What about you Alex? How did aunt Sally take the news?"

Alex raised an eyebrow, "Do you seriously think my mom would let me go to space? I don't think so. I told her I was going on a last minute trip to check out some collages. I ran out the door before she could ask any questions."

Sara shook her head, but knew her Aunt Sally could take it. Once, Alex had disappeared for a month, eventually returning home to a more annoyed than worried Aunt Sally. Alex always did crazy things, but as long as he didn't break the law or do anything that would seriously endanger him, Aunt Sally allowed it; except the nose ring. She couldn't stand them.

Finally Sara felt that she had brought everything that she thought would keep her busy, namely three very long books and her sketchbook which she threw in her backpack. She didn't have to bring food or water or clothing; Illi'thus had told her she would be provided for, as well as Alex and Zoë. They had all just wanted to bring a few essentials to keep them busy on the two week journey through space.

"Ok, where's Fuzz?" Sara asked looking around. They others shrugged and Illi'thus spoke, "We must leave now. We do not have that much time to get back to the ship, especially avoiding your government's agents." Zoë had been right about one thing; the entire town was swarming with the "matrix" government dudes.

Sara sighed; she would just have to leave Fuzz without a goodbye. Grabbing her jacket just in case, Sara grabbed the Crystal Shard and headed with the others, back to the alien starship.

Sara leaned over to Zoë and whispered to her as they were being led to their rooms by Illi'thus and Ven'tise, "Would you have really turned us into those fed guys if we had left you?"

Zoë looked at Sara and smiled evilly, "No way; but they didn't know that, did they?" Sara laughed at Zoë's cunning.

"This will be your private quarters," Illi'thus said, leading them into a room, "You should probably stay here the majority of the trip for your own safety. If you wish to explore the ship, do not leave unless we are with you."

Sara had thought the outside of the ship was weird looking, but never could expect what the inside looked like. Then entire ship seemed to glow of an eerie red-orange light. Upon all of the walls, carvings of battles and other random pictures made the walls quite an interesting sight. There was also a white mist that covered the floor that was absent in the room Illi'thus led them into. Illi'thus showed them a bathroom connected onto the room and told them that meals would be brought to them three times a day.

"Well, a little paint, a few curtains, and a couple of throw pillows should make this place livable," Zoë said tossing her ball on one of the three small beds. Sara did the same with her backpack and jumped when a loud squeak came from it.

"What was that?" Ven'tise asked.

Sara shrugged and jumped back as her bag began to move. There was the noise of the zipper being pulled back and a familiar, furry face poked its head out of the bag.

"FUZZ!" everyone yelled in unison. The little kitten's answer was a high pitched mew as it pulled itself out of the bag and hopped on the bed sniffing furiously at its' new surroundings.

"You brought that thing with you!" Illi'thus yelled. Alex and Zoë were laughing, and Sara could only hold back her own giggles.

"I guess he slipped in my bag and I didn't notice."

Illi'thus glared at the kitten angrily while Ven'tise merely smiled, "I wonder how Draka is going to react to this?"

"He'll probably jettison the animal," Illi'thus muttered getting a horrified shout out of Sara.

"He wouldn't dare!"

"Yes he would."

"If he does I'm blowing up the ship…" Sara paused and smiled, "Or I'll put a force field around Zoë and let her loose; it'll seem like all hell has broken loose."

"Amen to that!" Zoë said with a smile.

Sara picked up Fuzz and stroked his head, thinking to herself. So far, in a week, she found a magical crystal, had aliens attack, befriend, attempt to murder, and abduct her, and is now on her way to a different planet, bringing the crystal with her. Sara vaguely remembered the shooting star she saw and her wish.

Sara smiled and remembered her father's favorite saying, "Be careful what you wish for, it just might happen."

How true that was…

**To Be Continued…**

_Oh, how I love cliffhangers! And to end a story on one! Well, I'm pretty sure I'll at least have some people come back for the sequel. I'd like to thank first my reviewers who have been with me from the beginning of the story to the end! Thanks you guys! And of course I have to thank the lurkers who really made the hit counter fly! I'm dedicating this story to my cat Fluffy, who died in April. I'll miss you Fluffinator! So, with another thanks to my reviewers I'm off!_

_Bastet_

_P.S. If you can't wait for the sequel to this story to come out, check out my other stories: **Predator: Hunters**, **Predator: Ancient World, **and my first non-Predator fanfic,** Legacy of Kain: Revival**. For **Predator: Ancient World**, I'm having some trouble contacting Amouthea so as soon as we talk I'll get another chapter up! _


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